Action To Fix 54 Week Wait For MRI Scan

Jersey's MRI staff have worked together to cut the waiting list after reaching an 'untenable situation' that had become 'dangerous for patients'.

In September, patients were being told they would have to wait 54 weeks for an MRI scan.

By next week, the projected wait is expected to have been reduced to six weeks.

Staff at the hospital decided  to to take action when they faced one too many difficult conversations with patients about the year-long waiting time.

Dr Salman Zaman, Consultant Radiologist at the General Hospital, says this situation was untenable.

"It was something that was dangerous for patients, because in those patients waiting there certainly would be a number who would need prompt diagnosis."

Private patients were also seeing similar wait times and many decided to go off-island to receive treatment, which the consultant says is the last thing someone wants to do when they are ill.

He explained to Channel 103 that the staff grouped together and asked for a meeting with hospital managers, entering into discussions for almost three weeks about the steps that needed to be taken.

Eventually, more funding was given to the department to employ short-term MRI specialists from the UK to help work the machines and cut wait times.

This is despite various challenges, including the two MRI scanners in Jersey being out of use for two weeks due to Storm Ciaran.

With the extra help, the waiting lists have shrunk by 61% in just three months, meaning the hospital could also take on more private patients.

The income from scanning private patients is in surplus to the funding dedicated to bringing the States patients' waiting list down.

Dr Zaman says this initiative demonstrates the dedication of frontline staff and senior managers, working together tirelessly to continue to provide the healthcare Islanders rightly expect and deserve.

"It highlights the need for the States to attract, recruit and then retain the highly-skilled senior managers, doctors and allied healthcare professionals, without whom, modern healthcare cannot be provided.

Finally, it is an example of how, by working together to align the provision of public and private healthcare, in the best interest of all patients, the hospital is able to fund the rapidly increasing demand for this (MRI scanner) by States patients, who in this particular case have benefited the most."

As of this week, there are 431 patients waiting for an MRI scan.

Currently, there is a global shortage of trained MRI specialists. The Health department is working on a plan to attract staff to the island.