Wait times for heart scans reach 5-year highs in Winnipeg
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada’s nuclear medicine system is in “disarray” and it has pushed wait time for myocardial perfusion tests to a five-year high across the city, according to reporting from CBC.
At Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, wait times for the heart test have jumped from six to 18 weeks in less than a year, according to data from Manitoba Health. At St. Boniface Hospital, patients are waiting 13 weeks for non-urgent stress tests—another five-year high.
"It's worrisome, Bob Moroz, the president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP), said to CBC. “Staffing is so stretched and they are doing what they can and working a lot of overtime and we are still falling behind.
"It is really indicative of the pressures across the entire system ... there are less of us and we are working longer hours."
About 25% of cameras once available for nuclear medicine scans in the city have been decommissioned over the past five years, according to the report. The problems have left Moroz wondering about the future.
"The problem is I don't see how we are going to catch up with it,” he said to CBC. “How do you catch up if our equipment is disappearing and we don't have the staff to fill it right now.”
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Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.