Long and longer: Imaging wait times in Canada
Prior to the arrival of COVID-19 in early 2020, Canadian patients waited nearly three months for an MRI and more than 11 weeks for a CT. Things have only gotten worse since then.
The problem’s mainspring may be the cumulative backlog amassed by pandemic postponements, but other factors have contributed as well.
Not least among these are Canada’s worsening radiologist shortage and a rash of retirements among frazzled technologists.
The Global News of Canada paints the picture in an article posted Sept. 13.
“As we’ve heard in the news, with nursing shortages and healthcare shortages in general, we have the same issues in radiology right now,” Ania Kielar, MD, vice president of the Canadian Association of Radiologists, tells the outlet. “There is increasing pressure to deliver efficient imaging, but with a limited number of people to do it, the requests are just piling up.”
Adding to the angst over the dim prospects for future improvement is a falloff in new physicians favoring radiology. Between 2010 and this year, the percentage of residency applicants choosing the specialty fell from 4.5% to 3.6%, according to the Sept. 13 article.
To the Canadian government’s credit, reporter Teresa Wright points out, representatives in Ottawa aimed $2 billion at the backlogs earlier this year.
Radiologist Kielar expresses appreciation for the commitment while sounding a note of concern over transparency in the allotment process and distribution among the provinces.
The Global News article quotes a breast cancer survivor who believes she would have had a bad outcome had she not taken an active role in securing follow-up imaging—and a second lumpectomy—despite running up against frustrating challenges along the way.
“[E]verybody was giving me the runaround,” the patient tells reporter Wright. “I was angry, devastated, not understood. Because everybody was apologizing, including doctors, but nobody takes responsibility.”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.