The queue for a normal MRI scan averages 80 days and is 22 days longer than in October 2021. In addition, patients wait 27 days for a description of the scan. This is one week longer than two years ago. The waiting time for a CT scan with a description has increased slightly. In 2021 it was 51 days, now it's 56. The Alivia Oncofoundation also examined how long the wait is for a first visit to an oncologist. Without a referral, it's as long as 39 days. It's also worth noting the significant discrepancies between provinces.
Disturbing trend. Patients wait up to 100 days in Poland for an MRI to be performed and described.
Published Nov. 15, 2023 10:03
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The issue of the availability of health services and queues for examinations and specialists has been controversial and hotly debated for years. The release of funding limits for MRI and CT examinations in April 2019 resulted in a significant reduction in waiting times in queues, but an increasing trend has been observed since 2021. One reason for this is the low availability of radiologists and equipment used for imaging diagnosis.
According to the Health at Glance 2023 report, Poland has one of the lowest rates among OECD countries in terms of the number of MRI, CT and PET scanners per million inhabitants.
We fare no better in terms of the number of examinations performed (CT, RM, PET). The average among OECD countries is 254 examinations per 1,000 inhabitants. In Poland
Only 171 of them are performed, which puts us 6th from last in the ranking. We are only ahead of Costa Rica. Romania, Bulgaria, Chile and the United Kingdom.
Although the number of devices is increasing year after year, the radiology community itself points to another problem - an insufficient number of specialists describing examinations. According to the Supreme Medical Chamber, we have just over 4,200 of them in Poland. Although, according to the NIK report, the number of radiologists increased by 14 percent between 2017 and 2021, there was still a shortage in almost a third of the audited entities.
Inequalities in access to imaging tests can be seen with the naked eye
The disparity between provinces in access to tests is as high as 94 days. This means that some patients can wait up to four times longer for tests than others, despite the fact that they pay the same health premiums.
The longest wait for a CT scan in the normal mode is for patients in the Lesser Poland province - 82 days, and the shortest in the Podlasie province - 12 days. In the urgent mode, the situation is similar. The longest waiting time is in Malopolska province - 48 days, and the shortest in Podlaskie province - 9 days.
There is a wait of 124 days for an MRI in the normal mode in the Lesser Poland province, and 30 in the Świętokrzyskie province. With a referral for "cito" the longest queue is in the Lubuskie province - 101 days, and the shortest in the Świętokrzyskie province - 19 days.
The longest wait for PET-CT examination in normal and urgent mode is in the Silesian province. Specifically, 65 days in the normal mode and 59 days "on cito". The shortest queue in the normal mode is in Podkarpackie province - 14 days, and in the urgent mode - in Opolskie, Podkarpackie and Świętokrzyskie provinces - 14 days.
To an oncologist without a referral? Here, too, you have to be very lucky and clever
Starting in April 2023, the Alivia Oncofoundation will examine access to oncologists in addition to queues for imaging tests. The length of the wait for a first appointment in the regular and urgent care is being checked.
On average in Poland, there is a 39-day wait for a first visit to an oncologist without a referral in the usual way, according to data for October 2023, and a 23-day wait with a DILO card. It is worth recalling that the entire process of initial diagnosis under the DILO card should not exceed 28 days.
- There are expensive and high-profile campaigns to make patients aware of the importance, in oncological disease, of time, prompt diagnosis and initiation of therapy. Meanwhile, a patient with a suspected or preliminary diagnosis of oncological disease, who should be admitted urgently, waits several weeks for an appointment, and then another for diagnosis. This can result in missed chances for effective treatment and often a cure," comments Aleksandra Ciompala, Outreach Program Coordinator at the Alivia Oncofoundation.
The longest wait for a first appointment to an oncologist is currently in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie province - 123 days in the normal mode, and 117 days in the urgent mode (DILO). The fastest appointment to this specialist, regardless of the mode (normal/DILO), is in the Świętokrzyskie province - the waiting time is 7 days.
- Reducing queues and increasing access to medical services is one of the priorities of the Alivia Oncofoundation. We will appeal to the new Minister of Health to take steps to ensure adequate cancer diagnostics and monitor the effectiveness of treatment in this area. We will also appeal to medical facilities where the examination deadlines are the longest, asking them to explain the reasons for this situation and to take action to improve the availability of services of particular importance to patients with suspected or diagnosed cancer," - says Joanna Frątczak-Kazana, Deputy Director of the Alivia Oncofoundation.
Source: press materials
