Shortage of techs, pandemic backlog leads to long wait times for mammograms in Waterloo Region

Some in Waterloo Region are raising concerns about long wait times for routine mammograms, while those in the field admit they’re still dealing with a shortage of technologists.

Tracy Hobbs said she tried to book an appointment at a True North Imaging location in Waterloo a few years ago. It took several months to get a date, but the appointment was then cancelled due to the technologist being sick. She finally got it done five months later.

“I waited almost a year to get just a routine mammogram,” Hobbs said.

She called four other locations but had trouble getting in because they too were dealing with a lack of technologists.

Mammograms are the first line of defense for breast cancer and it already runs in Hobbs’ family. So she knows how important it is to get them done.

“I have a stepmother that died of breast cancer. My sister-in-law had breast cancer. She's in remission,” she explained.

Changes at True North Imaging

True North Imaging has 26 locations across Ontario. Every year they see about 200,000 people Waterloo Region. During the pandemic two of its locations stopped offering X-Rays and one stopped offering mammograms due to a shortage of Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs). The president of True North Imaging said about a dozen of their 25 MRTs have left in the last few years.

President Jason Hartman explained that while some retired, others left the industry or went to work in hospitals. But he said things are getting better and True North Imaging is now down only about four MRTs locally.

The University Avenue location also just started offering mammograms again last week for the first time since 2022.

Province changes minimum age

Those in the industry are also bracing for another busy few years. Last fall the province lowered the minimum age for self-referral breast cancer screenings from 50 to 40.

“That's going to be adding another 100,000 to 130,000 additional mammograms throughout the province,” Hartman said.

Christa Taggart is only in her early 40s but, due her family history, started getting annual mammograms. She booked her appointment last week but couldn’t get into Grand River Hospital’s Freeport Breast Centre until October.

“I feel like, had I not been proactive, I am concerned that I wouldn't have gotten in had I maybe just thought: ‘Yeah, I'll call in August,’” Taggart said.

Province responds

A spokesperson for the Minster of Health told CTV News in a statement that it is taking action to grow the healthcare workforce now and in the years to come.

“We are building on our progress adding thousands of new nurses, physicians and new medical lab techs since 2018 by expanding our Learn and Stay Grant, which provides tuition and other education costs to eligible students, in exchange for a term of service in a rural or remote area after graduation to include students in medical laboratory technologists programs. Our government has also launched As of Right credentials, which allows health care professionals, including lab techs, registered in other Canadian jurisdictions to begin to practice in Ontario immediately.”

Lab tech shortage

Not only is there a shortage in MRTs there’s also a shortage in Medical Laboratory Technologists (MLTs) who do test interpretations. That means turnaround time to get results could also take longer.

The Medical Laboratory Professionals’ Association of Ontario (MLPAO) said there’s been an almost a 90 per cent increase in testing volume since the pandemic, since a lot of people didn’t get tested. Now they are and there aren’t enough MLTs to examine the test results.

“67 per cent of our labs have reported that there's a shortage of employees,” said Michelle Hoad, MLPAO’s CEO.

She also said almost 40 per cent of medical lab professionals are eligible to retire within the next two to four years.

“We need to keep finding ways to keep this group motivated to stay. And secondly, make sure that we keep finding new people to add to the profession,” she added.

The MLPAO represents medical laboratory professionals in Ontario and has been lobbying the province for more help in this year’s budget.

“To look at increasing placements at hospitals and community labs. So that means hiring a preceptor to come in and train students,” Hoad said. “If we do that and invest there, I think it will definitely allow more students to come through the program.”

Local hospitals react

Officials at Grand River Hospital said mammograms are prioritized as high-risk screens and average-risk screens.

Cambridge Memorial Hospital, meanwhile, said from April 2023 to March 2023 the average wait time for non-Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP) mammograms was 32 days. For urgent ones, the wait was 18 days and 28 days for OBSP mammograms.