A 75-year-old woman says she faces a three-month wait for a CT scan in Yellowknife. She’s not sure she can wait that long as she’s in extreme pain.
Toni Cassoway believes she has a pinched nerve in her hip. She says her doctor advised her to get a computed tomography scan, more commonly known as a CT scan. The diagnostic imaging procedure uses X-rays and computer technology to produce images of what’s happening inside the body.
Cassoway said she recently learned she would have to wait three months for the service at Stanton Territorial Hospital.
“I don’t think I can do it, wait three months for a CT scan, because I’m already going nuts, crazy,” she said.
Cassoway said she has been prescribed painkillers but doesn’t like taking them. She said the pain in her hip is affecting her daily life.
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“I like walking, exercise. I can’t even do that. I can’t even go out. I can’t cook for myself because I can’t stand over so long,” she said.
Cassoway said she asked her doctor for a referral to get a CT scan in Alberta, hoping to reduce the wait time, but her physician said he was unable to help her and it would be up to Stanton Territorial Hospital. When she spoke with diagnostic imaging services in Yellowknife, however, she said she was told she would be able to travel to Alberta if she had a referral from her doctor.
“I’m getting the runaround and I’m in pain,” she said.
Cassoway said she was hit by a vehicle in October 2001 and wonders if the incident is related to her current condition.
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“It took me 20 years to get over my anger and get myself into a good place,” she said. “But now this is happening and I have to start all over again.”
The NWT’s Department of Health and Social Services said it could not speak about specific cases to protect patient privacy.
Department spokesperson David Maguire said wait times for a CT scan in the NWT are based on priority, which is determined after review by a radiologist.
He said as of the week of June 17, routine non-urgent scans of the lowest priority were being booked for the second week of August. He said that is below the 60-day maximum target recommended by the Canadian Association of Radiologists, but wait times could be longer than 60 days.
Maguire said delays are the result of demand for the service, which has nearly tripled in the past decade while capacity has not increased.
For example, he said, there were 2,777 CT exams completed in the territory in the 2015-16 financial year. In the 2023-24 financial year, that figure was 7,459.
Maguire said people are generally not referred outside the territory for a CT scan. He said if they are, the receiving location would triage them using the same standards the territorial health authority uses, those recommended by the Canadian Association of Radiologists.
He said if someone’s medical condition changes after they are referred for a diagnostic imaging procedure, they should contact their primary care provider, as it may change their priority status.
