‘I could be dead by then’: Ontario plans to decrease MRI wait times, but when?

For more than two decades, Toronto resident Sarah Barnett has been in a fight for her life.

“In 2001 I was diagnosed with an astrocytoma, which is a brain tumour caused by a condition known as glioblastoma,” Barnett said.

She now has Stage 4 cancer and for years she’s had MRI scans to monitor her tumour on a very specific timeline.

“According to my oncologist, standard of care says an MRI should be done every two to three months for people with my condition,” Barnett said. “It shows if there’s been any tumour growth or if it’s stable. If there’s growth, I go back on chemo for a year. If it’s stable, I don’t need to do any treatment.”

For the past two decades, Barnett has been able to schedule MRI appointments within the recommended timeline. But after her last scan, done in early August, she ran into some trouble.

“The next appointment they offered me was April 2025, there’s nothing sooner. I could be dead by then. After living 20 years with the tumour, I’ve come to terms with dying and it’s part of life, but I don’t think it needs to be rushed.”

MRI wait times a longstanding problem in Ontario, patient advocates say

Barnett isn’t alone, according to PatientProtection.Healthcare, an organization that works to improve conditions for patients on both a provincial and federal level.  

“Hospitals that provide MRIs for their inpatients are having a terrible time keeping up, yet alone those like the patient in your story who is an outpatient,” said president and founder Kathleen Finlay. “Currently it’s not good news for this patient and others like her, and there are thousands of them who were caught in this same waiting game.”

Hospitals and other diagnostic centres in Ontario schedule MRI appointments based on urgency levels with set goal timelines for each.

They’re broken down into four priority categories from Priority 1, which is ’emergent’ with a target of a scan being done within 24 hours, to Priority 4, which includes less urgent cases with a goal of 28 days.

But according to online data, made available to the public by Ontario’s Ministry of Health, those timelines aren’t always met.

Ontario’s ministry of health working on a solution

The ministry is well aware of the problem, not only with MRI scans but wait times involving other diagnostic and surgical procedures.

“When it comes to wait times for surgeries and procedures, the status quo is not acceptable,” Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones said back in June when announcing a plan to tackle the problem. “Our government is taking bold action to boost access to surgeries and diagnostic imaging so that Ontarians can conveniently access the care they need sooner, closer to home.”

Jones said Ontario plans to add 100,000 more MRI and CT scans at community surgical and diagnostic centres across the province each year.

“The problem with that is, it’s just a policy. It’s just a plan,” Finlay said. “It’s not on board yet. The application process for clinics ended in August, after they announced it in June. So who knows when the situation will improve for patients.”

A Ministry of Health spokesperson was unable to give Speakers Corner a definitive timeline on the expanded MRI program, saying they’re currently going through applications and will be making decisions very soon. But they tell us progress is already being made.

“We have added over 49 new MRI machines and 50 new CT scanners in hospitals across the province. Over the last year, our government has increased publicly funded diagnostic imaging capacity to perform nearly 500,000 hours of MRI and CT scans and achieved some of the shortest wait times in Canada, with nearly 80 per cent of people receiving their procedure within clinically recommended target times.”

“You just can’t imagine what people are going through.”

But Barnett, who’s not part of that 80 per cent, says more needs to be done.

“Something has to change sooner rather than later,” Barnett said. “This whole process is very stressful, and I worry it’s impacting my health.”

Barnett said she has been working to find a sooner appointment, a process she says has become a part-time job.

“They put me on a cancellation list. I have a great doctor, and they’re doing what they can but it shouldn’t be this hard.”

“You just can’t imagine what people are going through. ‘Is this thing growing inside me? What is that going to mean for my prognosis? What are my treatment options?’ It is a horrible thing to inflict on people who are already dealing with so much,” Finlay added.

If you have an issue, story or question you’d like us to look into, reach out here.