Minister sets six-week waiting time target to have MRI scan

Thursday 05 October 2023

The Health Minister has set a target for islanders to not have to wait more than six weeks for an MRI scan by the end of the year, following reports of some individuals spending months on the waiting list.

As of last month, 1,115 MRI scans were waiting to be performed, as well as 2,392 ultrasounds, 1,164 X-rays and 638 CT scans.

These figures, provided by Health Minister Karen Wilson in response to a formal question posed by St Lawrence Constable Deidre Mezbourian, who said that she knew of some people who were waiting more than six months for appointment at the Radiology Department.

Deputy Wilson said that Health could now use two MRI scanners instead of one.

The figures provided by Health – which tally up to more than 5,500 outstanding examinations or scans - do not differentiate between first appointments, those which may have been cancelled or postponed and are waiting to be rebooked, or six-month follow ups.

However, Deputy Wilson told the States this week that she shared the Constable’s concerns that islanders were waiting too long and she found that “the way in which the arrangements for scanning services have been organised to date have not been optimal or, indeed, acceptable.”

Pictured: Health Minister Karen Wilson: "There is now a plan in place where we can engage a second scanner".

She added: “As part of the turnaround work, this is now a priority for the turnaround team, which is to focus on waiting times for investigations and diagnostics, and what I have been assured on this week – in particular for MRI scanning – is that there is now a plan in place where we can engage a second scanner and that we can start to bring the timings of those investigations that people are waiting for, with the ambition to offer that at a six-week waiting time by the end of the year. 

“I am really pleased that we have been able to address this in this way.”

The Minister added that the department was also seeking to improve the way it collected and organised data.

She said: “Our performance systems are way short of what we need to do; some of the manual collection of this information is also poor. I am hoping we can also address [this] through the electronic systems that we are putting in place.”

Asked if there were similar wating time targets for the other types of scans and examinations, Deputy Wilson replied: “I haven’t set any waiting time targets yet because I want to get a much better understanding of what the actual wait is. The turnaround team is going through that as we speak.”

She added: “We will as part of our strategy start to set some really clear targets for waiting times. Clearly, there are capacity issues at the moment because we are subject to variation when we cannot recruit a member of staff to operate the service. 

“Improving recruitment will allow us to get to a pattern of service that allows us to set some reasonable targets for waiting times.”

Speaking after the exchange in the Assembly, Constable Mezbourian said: “I’m disappointed that the Minister wasn’t able to set an objective to have a maximum time limit on waiting for first-time appointments, such as six weeks.

“We all get anxious when waiting for hospital appointments and to have to wait longer than that is not beneficial to anyone.”