MRI wait times pushing some Islanders to private clinics

Faced with the prospect of waiting months for an MRI in P.E.I., Dan King decidedto pay to go to a private clinic in Moncton, N.B., instead.

King hurt his wrist in July. He's beenwearing a cast since and needsligament surgery but says his doctors told himhe needed the MRI before he could get a surgery date.

King's MRI date in P.E.I was set forDecember and he didn't want to wait.

"I decided you know what, waiting two more months and another three months for surgery, I'm guessing, is too long," he said. "I thought I better try and speed it up a bit."

King's injury is not life threatening, butinconvenient for doing daily household tasks and he can't do someactivities he enjoys like biking.

More Islanders seeking private care, says clinic

King isn't alone in going off Island. The clinic he went to, Moncton MRI, sees on average about five P.E.I. residents each week double what it saw last year.

"We've seen an increasing number of Island residents coming to the clinic over the last 18 to 24 months,"said general manager Larry Cain.

Patientspay $895 to get an MRI at the private clinic, plus travel expenses.

King said he hesitated at first, and struggled with being able to get quicker service because he could afford to.

"I'm not happy with it, but I guess,what you have to do, you have to do I guess, and I could afford to do it," he said, pointing out that his spot in the public system for December will now be open to someone else.

Shortage of MRI technologists in P.E.I.

Health PEI has one MRI scanner butis down two MRI technologists out of a compliment of four.

"Over the last couple of years it's been a challenge to keep a full time compliment of staff for a hard to recruit for area," saidGailyne MacPherson, the provincial director of diagnostic imaging.

The staff shortage meansleast urgent cases can expect to wait up to six months for an appointment. Urgent cases are dealtwith right away and semi-urgent patients are looking at a two month wait.

"We try to ensure the people who are the sickest get in the quickest," said MacPherson.

Hopes for shorter wait times soon

Health PEI expects to be back up to the full compliment in the coming months.

'We expect things to improve by the end of January, although the public probably won't notice it tilApril/May, it will take us a while to deal with the backlog," saidMacPherson.

MacPherson knows some are choosing to go to private clinics, and Health PEI does accept imaging from MRI Moncton.

"We support anyone who feels they need to do that," she said. "We are sorry that we cannot accommodate in the time frame that they would like to be accommodated in."

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