Third MRI Up & Running at WRH
22-6-2023
A third MRI machine at Windsor Regional Hospital is currently in operation and about to ramp up to full capacity, adding thousands of additional scans for patients on an annual basis.
In December 2022, the provincial government announced funding for 27 new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines across Ontario including one at WRH’s Ouellette Campus. Following staff training in recent weeks, we have ramped up use of the new machine and as a result, WRH will have three MRI machines running at full capacity by the end of June 2023.
Just over 22,000 MRI scans have been performed annually at WRH with the use of two machines. The addition of a third machine will bring that number to nearly 33,000 scans annually, which will largely help address waits for non-urgent Priority 4 patients on our waitlist for an MRI. There are approximately 5,400 Priority 4 patients with less severe ailments waiting for a scan, which most commonly involve chronic but non-critical ailments such as sore knees and shoulders.
“Adding a third scanner will help to ensure patients have more timely access to MRI scans,” says Director of Diagnostic Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, Cardiopulmonary, and EEG Colleen Nelson. “This will lead to a quicker diagnosis for patients who have health concerns.”
“We want to thank the Ontario government for awarding Windsor Regional Hospital the operating funds for a third MRI,” stated Windsor Regional Hospital President and CEO David Musyj.
Currently, the average wait time across the province for a Priority 4 patient to get an MRI is 73 days, but at WRH, Priority 4 patients waited an average of 157-163 days. However, Priority 3 patients wait only 10-17 days as compared to a provincial average of 26. Priority 2 patients have no wait time locally as compared to three days provincially.
Source: https://www.ontariohealth.ca/public-reporting/wait-times
When all three MRI machines are running at full capacity later this month, scans will be available to patients 18 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In addition to reducing wait times, the third machine will help prevent interruptions of service during downtime required for maintenance as well as during times of surges in bed capacity when less urgent scans are postponed to accommodate higher volumes of in-patient and emergency requests.
The third MRI currently in operation is in a temporary location until a permanent location is renovated. We are renovating space at the Ouellette Campus to house a new 3T MRI (similar to the 3T MRI in operation at the Met campus currently) which should be operational in 2024.
WRH is also requesting help from the public in the battle to reduce wait times. A contributing factor has been patients not showing up to their appointments without any advance notice to the hospital. Last year, 1,291 appointments went unfilled because patients did not notify the hospital they were unable to attend. If you have a booked appointment and cannot make it please give WRH 24-hours notice allowing staff to fill your spot with a patient currently on our waitlist.
If you need to reschedule your MRI or any diagnostic imaging appointment you can call MRI at 519-254-5577 ex. 52863 7 days a week between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.