Hospitals in the Erie St. Clair LHIN area that offer MRIs have put together plans to speed up wait times because they are not meeting provincial standards.
LHIN Chief Executive Gary Switzer says the problem exists across the province and hospitals in Chatham-Kent, Sarnia and Windsor are making progress.
"They are all taking it seriously. They all put in best practices to ensure they have flow. One of the staff mentioned that radiologists are now turning back requests that do not require an MRI," he says.
He says other things can be done including booking appointments by category.
"For example if you are going in for a knee, let's put everybody going in for a knee in the same block so we don't have to change the coils in the machine."
Switzer adds there is concern some doctors book MRIs for patients who don't need them, and there are also problems with patients not showing up which also causes delays.
