An update on the fight by a Niagara politician to cut MRI wait times for regional residents.
Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates revealed today that Niagara Health has been granted additional funding to begin to clear the backlog of patients waiting to receive the scans.
“This is great news for the residents of Niagara. I’m very happy to know that the residents who brought their concerns to my office are going to have access to the MRI’s they need,” said Gates. “The waitlist should never have been allowed to get this bad, but it is great news that we are taking this important step to begin to solve this problem.”
Gates, after hearing from constituents, had approached Suzanne Johnston, President of Niagara Health, to address this issue before bringing a motion forward on October 27th that called on the Government to immediately take steps to shorten MRI wait times in the Niagara Region which passed unanimously.
“I would like to thank MPP Gates for his advocacy and support regarding additional funding for MRI wait times in Niagara. This recent injection of provincial funding has enabled us to reduce our wait times this year for elective MRI exams by four to eight weeks depending on the complexity of the test. We know we still have work to do to improve our overall MRI wait times, and we will be submitting a proposal for a third MRI in Niagara in the near future” said Johnston.
Gates added that “this is an important first step in reducing MRI wait times in Niagara but we still need to work on the long-term solution, getting another MRI machine here. We have a strong case that we need that machine and we have the facilities and skills required to run it.”