Even in the midst of a global pandemic that puts unprecedented pressure on British Columbia’s health care system, more MRIs and CT scans have been completed in the province than ever before.
The annual progress report of the exploration, released on Thursday, shows that the province performed 296,211 MRIs in fiscal year 2021/22.
This is higher than the record of 252,527 MRIs performed two years ago in 2019/20.
What is not provided in the report is how long patients are waiting for an MRI or CT scan. The aging of the population has led to a dramatic increase in the need for explorations.
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“When we committed to improving access to MRI scans in 2018, we knew we were making some bold requests from the healthcare system,” the report says.
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“We were confident that we could make dramatic improvements to the entire system, but we could not have predicted the success we achieved even in these unprecedented times.”
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The COVID-19 pandemic has had various impacts on the system. One of the biggest challenges has been completing the scans while staff were sick with the virus.
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As part of the pandemic response, an estimated 30,000 MRI scans were lost due to delays and another 16,000 MRI scans due to extended cleaning and disinfection protocols in 2020/21.
In early 2018, the province announced BC’s new surgical and diagnostic imaging strategy. It was introduced in an attempt to reduce the growing expectations of exploration in the province.
CT scans have also increased across the province, with 901,256 scans completed in 2021/22. The previous highest in the province was 812,212 scans completed in 2020/21.
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As part of the CT and MRI strategy, the province has drastically increased the hours the machines run.
In 2021/22, BC MRI scanners operated more than 4,631 hours a week on average, 288 hours a week more than last year.
The province has also expanded its focus to increase the supply of essential staff, such as technologists, who help conduct the exams.
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