Canadian imaging inventory: MRI waits average 90 days nationally

Capacity and equipment findings

The Canadian Medical Imaging Inventory (CMII) 2022–2023 report found that Canada remains below the average for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and is positioned in the bottom 30% of OECD countries in units per million population for CT, MRI, and PET-CT. Canada is also positioned in the bottom 50% of OECD countries for volume of publicly funded CT, MRI, and PET-CT exams per 1,000 population.

The report notes that the average age of imaging equipment in Canada has increased for all imaging modalities over the past two decades, and that at least one-third of equipment is more than 10 years old. Since 2012, both the overall numbers of MRI, PET-CT, and SPECT-CT units and the numbers of MRI units per million people have grown.

Wait times exceed recommended targets

According to the CMII report, in 2023 wait times for medically necessary elective CT exams exceeded the recommended 30-day maximum target in all provinces (data for territories were not available) apart from Quebec, with a national average wait time of 46 days. For MRI, wait times exceeded the 30-day recommended maximum target in all provinces (data for territories were not available), with a national average wait time of 90 days.

The report identifies this as consistent with trends over time that show an ongoing deterioration in timely access to imaging. Readers tracking provincial private-pay options can review published fee schedules for private MRI clinics in Alberta, private MRI clinics in British Columbia, and private MRI clinics in Quebec.

Private facility growth and workforce strain

The CMII report describes an increased reliance on the private delivery of publicly funded exams, which has resulted in the expansion of private services, chain ownerships, and investment firm acquisition of private imaging facilities. It notes that advanced medical imaging, including CT and MRI, is used routinely in both publicly funded radiology and nuclear medicine departments and in private imaging facilities across Canada, with a geographic concentration in urban settings.

The report also flags workforce strain, stating that clearing the backlog of exams deferred during the pandemic has exacerbated existing staffing shortages, and that compared to the prepandemic period there are now fewer full-time radiology professionals in practice across Canada, with medical physicists experiencing the largest decline per million population.

Accreditation and mobile capacity

On the accreditation side, Accreditation Canada Diagnostics announced that Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services became the first provincial health authority to achieve ISO 15189 Plus™ accreditation for medical imaging services across all 42 of its locations. Accreditation Canada Diagnostics also released version 25.10 of the ISO 15189 Plus™ Diagnostic Imaging Requirements, dated October 2025, and stated that facilities notified of an upcoming accreditation assessment visit as of October 15, 2025 will be assessed against version 25.10.

In British Columbia, the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) operates a mobile CT trailer available for reservation to support hospitals during planned or unplanned CT downtime, operating from its home site at Chilliwack General Hospital when not deployed. PHSA states that the mobile CT trailer can be reserved for four to six months, and that this includes two months for setup, construction, acceptance testing, and accreditation.

Context for readers

The CMII data underscore how supply, workforce, and equipment age interact with wait times across public and private diagnostic imaging channels. Additional coverage is available via MRI news, and provincial fee schedules can be compared at MRI price comparison, including lumbar spine MRI pricing in Alberta.