Province provides additional MRI funding for Niagara
Additional funding will be provided for a second year to ensure MRI wait times in Niagara remain closer to the provincial average, says Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates.
Gates’ private member’s bill passed the Ontario legislature in 2016 calling on the provincial government to reduce the higher than average MRI wait times in the region.
Supported by all three parties, the government proceeded to allot Niagara Health with $1,649,800 in base funding for the 2016-17 year to, in part, support a minimum of 2,000 hours of operating time for MRI machines to begin clearing the backlog of patients waiting to receive tests.
Gates, along with Suzanne Johnston, president of Niagara Health, announced on Thursday afternoon additional funding for MRI services for the second year.
Niagara Health said similar to last year, the funding will cover 2,000 hours of MRI annually.
“Our motion called on the government to take action — to address the horrendous wait times for MRIs in Niagara, and we’re happy that last year we saw increased funding,” said Gates.
“Now this year, it is great to see additional funding from the (Local Health Integration Network) so that MRI wait times can remain closer to the provincial average. I don’t think any resident in Niagara should have to experience these wait times, and that’s why I’m so pleased to see additional funding to ensure we can deliver quality health care to people in our community.”
Johnston said the designated funding by the LHIN is “welcome news” and will help to improve wait times for MRI exams in Niagara.
“Access to timely, safe care is important to our patients and families, and to our teams providing the care,” she said.
“We appreciate MPP Gates’s partnership, and his work to improve the wait time in Niagara for MRI exams.”
Gates said residents began coming to his office last year complaining they couldn’t get MRIs for a number of months.
Gates had said wait times for MRIs in Niagara far exceeded the provincial average.
In September 2016 he said the province had mandated a 28-day limit in waits, but that the average then in Niagara was more than 100 days.
Gates, after hearing from constituents, approached Johnston, to address the issue before he brought a motion forward in the legislature calling on the government to immediately take steps to shorten MRI wait times in the region.
He said convincing the province to provide the necessary funding was thanks to his constituents who initially raised the issue, and the media, who highlighted the issue.
Gates said his role, as an opposition NDP MPP, is to keep the government accountable, and to “work with the government when you have issues within your own riding, sometimes just outside your riding, to get things done and highlighted.”
“I work with people … making sure that they understand the need that is coming out of my particular riding, in this case it was really Niagara, it wasn’t just Niagara Falls that had the problem,” he said.
“When you come forward, you come forward with something that is proven that there is a need, that there’s a way to work across party lines to get it done. We’ve been very successful in getting our message out, and working across party lines to get stuff done for my riding, and I’m going to continue to do that.”
Gates said he’s also working “very closely” with the decision-makers at Niagara Health to continue to improve the delivery of other types of care in the region.