According to a study, 30 days is the average time to obtain an MRI appointment in metropolitan France. Regional inequalities also remain glaring, worry the authors.
“Is it okay for a person to wait an average of 30 days for the only imaging test to check for cancer?” This is the question posed by the Cemka-Eval Institute which, in its annual study, analyzes French MRI equipment and waiting times.
The authors of this work recall that this delay represents “not only a loss of opportunity but also a period of anxiety for the patient and for his relatives”. In mainland France, you have to wait 30.6 days on average to access an MRI examination, while the 2014-2019 Cancer Plan recommends a maximum of 20 days, and the previous Plan 15 days.
For the current year, these data reveal that more than half of the French population (51.3%) lives in a region where the average waiting time is greater than or equal to 30 days (43.3% in 2015 ).
France’s delay in equipment
Alongside these alarming figures, Cemka-Eval notes that the national equipment rate in metropolitan France is 13.1 MRI per million inhabitants, “well below the European average of 20 MRI per million inhabitants. “. In a press release, Christophe Lala, president of the Imaging division of SNITEM (1), does not hide his dissatisfaction. “The players in medical imaging federated by SNITEM recommend the search for concrete solutions, to improve as quickly as possible this situation unworthy of our health system!” He writes.
Flagrant regional inequalities
The latter reveals, moreover, that regional inequalities remain “flagrant” in metropolitan France. With territories which accumulate handicaps. Thus, the Auvergne, Center and Brittany regions have the lowest equipment rates and the highest waiting times (44.8 days, 41.6 and 39.6 days). The average delay weighted by the size of the population shows a difference of more than double (52.9 vs 21.5 days) between the 5 least well-equipped regions and the 5 best-endowed regions.
Worse, compared to 2015, waiting times for an MRI exam increased in 12 regions, 5 of which are among those with the highest cancer mortality: Basse-Normandie, Champagne-Ardenne, Ile-de- France, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, PACA.
And in 9 French regions, the increase in delays is more than 10% (2). This is the case, for example, in Rhône-Alpes, where the average waiting time for obtaining an MRI appointment fell from 22.8 days in 2015 to 32.8 days in 2016.
Health needs not covered
Finally, the Institute alerts particularly to the case of five metropolitan regions which are characterized by particularly low equipment rates, lower than 11 MRI per million inhabitants: Auvergne, Brittany, the Center region, Picardy and the Pays de la Loire.
At the same time, certain regions saw their situation deteriorate: Rhône-Alpes, Poitou-Charentes, Basse-Normandie, Aquitaine. “In other regions such as PACA or Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the new facilities only support the growth in health needs and therefore do not allow delays to be reduced”, specify the authors of the study. .
The latter indeed indicate that new needs are appearing, “linked to the aging of the population and new indications for MRI”. In the context of the indictment recently conducted by the Court of Auditors and faced with the inevitable increase in the number of examinations, they conclude that it is “urgent to define collectively the appropriate tools for managing resources and organizations, in the service of ‘efficient imagery’.
(1) “Cemka-Eval 2016 study: French MRI fleet and waiting times” carried out at the initiative of the Imagerie Santé Avenir association (ISA), and in cooperation with the National Syndicate of Technology Industry Medical (SNITEM)
(2) Aquitaine, Auvergne, Lower Normandy, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Poitou-Charentes, PACA, Rhône-Alpes
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