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Nova Scotia’s official Opposition is taking the province to task over lengthy delays for mammograms, with NDP Leader Claudia Chender telling reporters she’s spoken to people who are receiving appointment dates in October of next year.
The X-ray of the breast tissue is used to detect cancer early, and the NDP says women shouldn’t be waiting more than a year for an appointment.
“What I didn’t hear from the minister was urgency,” Chender said.
Chender has written a letter to the province’s health minister, Michelle Thompson, calling for better women’s health care.
The move follows a recent CBC report that some women in the province are experiencing delays of around 15 months when booking an appointment in the Halifax area.
“According to the Department of Health, 90 per cent of Nova Scotians should get an initial screening within 91 days. That’s their benchmark — the benchmark the minister didn’t have,” Chender said.
“So, three months versus over a year, it is not OK. And I’ve spoken to people this morning who are receiving appointments for October 2027.”
Premier concerned about wait times
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In response, Premier Tim Houston said the worries and discussions around women’s health are “appropriate.”
“I am concerned about that,” Houston said about the wait times.
“We’re making progress across health care in general, but there are certainly areas where more progress is needed.”
Thompson acknowledged there are varying wait times for mammograms across the province, and added that the entire country is grappling with a staffing shortage for medical radiation technologists.
“We continue to look at our processes, our equipment, our staffing, and so we are working – I don’t have individual case wait times, but certainly we are looking at the wait times that we have,” she said.
She said the province is continuing its work to recruit internationally and to educate more medical radiation technologists locally.
“In 2023, we doubled the number of seats [at Dalhousie University], and the first graduating class of that doubled number will graduate in 2027,” she said, adding that there are 26 students in that class now.
“So not only are we looking at recruitment, but we’re looking at growing our own workforce.”
The Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program doesn’t have a cancellation list “per se,” said Thompson, so she advises patients to keep calling for an earlier appointment.
“We do understand that appointments become available on a fairly regular basis, and so encouraging folks to do that,” she said.
Meanwhile, the NDP wants to see a provincial women’s health strategy put in place.
“We need marching orders,” Chender said.
“The reality is that in the push to fix health care, the things that disproportionately impact women and gender-diverse Nova Scotians have been left behind.”
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