Georgian Bay General Hospital officials are playing the waiting game these days.
While Collingwood’s hospital has been approved to begin offering offer MRI services to its catchment area, the Midland hospital will have to wait a little longer to see if its application proved successful.
“We don’t yet have official approval of an MRI being allocated to GBGH,” said Jennifer Moore, the hospital’s director of communications and stakeholder relations.
“I hope that we’ll receive official word shortly as obviously, others are starting to make announcements.”
On Monday, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones visited Collingwood General and Marine Hospital to announce provincial funding to open an MRI lab.
"This funding will provide closer and more convenient access to diagnostic imaging for local patients," Jones said.
“I don't need to tell the healthcare professionals in the room what it means to have access to that information here so that you don't have patients travelling."
Like Collingwood’s hospital, GBGH submitted an application in January during the call for proposals to award 14 new MRIs across the province.
On Monday, however, Jones said the province was upping its support to operate a total of 27 new MRI machines in hospitals across Ontario for a total of $20 million in operational funding.
“With (this) news, the government has significantly increased the number of MRIs being allocated, which is excellent news for patients in the communities where the new MRIs will be located,” Moore said.
Ministry of Health spokesperson W.D. Lighthall said details about the other locations getting MRI machines will be released in the coming weeks.
“Our government is improving access to diagnostic imaging services and reducing wait times by investing over $20 million in operating funding to support the addition of 27 new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines in hospitals across the province,” Lighthall told MidlandToday.
“This funding will provide hospitals in all regions of the province with annual operational funding for new MRI machines, and for some communities, this funding means they will have their first-ever MRI machine, ensuring residents have more convenient access to care closer to home.”
During an interview in September, Moore said that when the hospital submitted its proposal in January, it knew that only 37 percent of patients receiving an MRI in Orillia or Barrie were within the provincial target wait time.
“As of June, only 29 percent are receiving their MRI within the target time set by the province," Moore said. "For a patient to have a 50 percent shot of receiving an MRI within the target time, they have to travel more than 100 kilometres from here, into the GTA. Travel expenses and logistics can be a barrier to access for patients.”
An MRI is a non-invasive medical imaging exam that helps radiologists to diagnose a variety of diseases, including cancer. An MRI machine uses a powerful magnetic field, radio frequency pulses and a computer to produce detailed pictures of organs, soft tissues, bone and other structures inside the body.
