Transparency Grade: D
MRI and Other Wait Times
What's the data showing?
CIHI's single data point reflects the 90th percentile wait times for MRI scans (90% of scans are done within this number of days of being ordered). This is a good approximation for how long people need to wait on average.
However, the corresponding metric for Island Health is anywhere from 7 to 772 days. The variability reflects how urgent the test is (ASAP, semi-urgent, routine) and also where it's performed, as waits at different hospitals vary dramatically.
Limited Data Available
CIHI: 159 days
Island Health: 7-772 days (ASAP 7-38, semi-urgent 67-258, routine 184-772)
BC Government: wait times not published (2015 FOI shows ~250 days)
This is another area where government data is deliberately misleading. For example in 2024, they reported the total number of exams (e.g. more than 332,000 MRI, 994,000 CT) performed.
While undoubtedly true, it's not really what people most need to know. The primary metric people are concerned about is wait times to access scans. On wait times, the report notes that BC has the "second shortest" in Canada, with 9 out of 10 patients waiting 159 days or less, based on data from CIHI.
We know the detailed data exists, but it's not generally made public. Island Health provides current wait time data on a range of imaging (MRI, CT, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, etc.) broken down by priority for each of the sites where it is available. This information is posted to the clinician-restricted area of Pathways so is not available to the general public. As another example, a FOI request dating back to 2015 shows the same MRI data is available across the entire province.
Note the high variability in wait times between different sites in the data below.
Sources
2024 Medical Imaging Annual Progress Report [original]
CIHI Wait Times for Priority Procedures. [Excel] [source]
VIHA Imaging Wait Times Jan10-Feb6/2025 [source: Pathways]
Province-wide MRI waiting times 2015 [source: FOI]