Canadian Health Care System Broken

Lower Mainland patients outraged over MRI waits     By Pamela FayermanDecember 16, 2008     Story Photos ( 1 )

    William Bush warms his back by the fireplace in his apartment in Vancouver. Bush has been told he needs to wait until May to have an MRI on his spine. Photograph by : Stuart Davis

A national study on MRI waiting times has prompted outrage from many B.C. residents who say the reality is far worse than what the study reported.

They said the study, which pins the median waiting time at about three months, grossly underestimates actual waiting times of at least half a year.

The study was published in the journal Healthcare Policy.

"Who in the hell are they kidding?" Vicki Sanderson asked.

"My husband has been waiting ... since April and when I have called, they have said that it takes at least nine months just to get a booking, so God only knows when he will have the actual MRI [on his spine] done."

Sanderson was one of dozens of readers who contacted The Vancouver Sun about an article on the University of Toronto study, which compared waiting times in the private system with those in the public system.

Though the study looked at waiting times for knee MRIs, it provoked an avalanche of feedback from patients waiting for MRIs on various body parts.

Researchers in the MRI study called 17 private clinics across the country that allow customers to pay out of pocket and asked when the next available appointment for a knee MRI would be. They asked the same question of up to 65 publicly funded centres.

The study found virtually no waiting at private clinics, while there was a median 13-week wait for MRIs at public centres.

Provincial breakdowns were not given, and the B.C. government does not maintain an MRI waiting list registry.

Gavin Wilson, spokesman for Vancouver Coastal Health, said the focus of the Toronto report was the capacity of private versus public centres, so "it is not appropriate methodology to examine wait times." He said 70 to 80 per cent of patients get their MRIs done within 16 to 32 weeks in the VCH region.

Squamish resident Andrea Gailus said she wrote to Wilson to complain about the waits and got an acknowledgement.

"We certainly do not dispute the fact that our patients must often wait weeks and months to receive their MRIs and that any inordinate wait is not acceptable," Wilson said in his letter.

He added that "wait lists are part of our health care system. MRI requests are prioritized depending on a patient's history and/or symptoms.

"We ... need to do a better job meeting the ever-growing demand for MRIs and we are continuing to work on resolving that," Wilson's letter said.

The Toronto researchers concluded that private centres have unused capacity and if governments want to reduce waiting times in the public system, they can contract out overflow to the private centres.

Contracting out is rare in B.C., since health authorities have fixed budgets and claim to be managing waiting lists without it.

Toronto researcher Dr. Chaim Bell said there could be several reasons for the discrepancy.

"There is probably variation in waits across the country," Bell said. "We asked for an MRI of the knee. There might be slightly different waits for other body parts.

"Things might have changed since our study was conducted. Those at the extremes may be the ones complaining."

As to whether public centres gave frank and accurate information, he said clinics were asked for the next available time slot. "In this way, I don't think the MRI facilities fudging their waits would be responsible for it," Bell said.

Michelle Stewart, spokeswoman for the B.C. health ministry, said 91,000 MRIs were conducted in B.C. last year.

"Inevitably, when you look at such a large number of people and MRIs performed, you will have people who wait longer than the average. ... We are committed to reducing waits."

Vancouver resident William Bush said he had to wait four months to see a spinal specialist and faces an eight-month wait for an MRI "so in order to even consider what treatment is appropriate will have taken a year.

"In the meantime, my physical condition deteriorates. I am only able to walk a few blocks at a time and many days am not able to leave my home."

Sanderson said her husband previously paid to have an MRI and surgery at a private clinic.

"People are pushed into a two-tier system," she said. "When you're going through absolute hell with pain and disability, you are desperate.

"We paid $5,000 for my husband to have an MRI and back surgery at a private clinic but we can't afford to pay for another MRI," she said, adding that her husband should be a more urgent case now that he's got more problems after the back surgery.

Sun Health Issues Reporter

pfayerman@vancouversun.com

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