News analysis

HAMILTON — Ontario’s expansion of privately delivered scans is facing renewed scrutiny as Hamilton hospitals confront financial pressure and a health-care advocacy group documents MRI equipment that typically does not run overnight.

The debate raises a practical question: should the province fund more hours on existing hospital scanners before expanding delivery outside public hospitals?

What the Hamilton MRI evidence shows

The Ontario Health Coalition’s September report says Hamilton Health Sciences has five MRI machines across Juravinski Hospital, McMaster University Medical Centre and Hamilton General Hospital. According to information gathered for the report, all typically close overnight.

The report also describes four machines at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton with varying clinical, research and weekend schedules. It notes that the Charlton site sometimes runs scans overnight when equipment is being replaced or additional funding is available.

These are findings from an organization campaigning against privatization, based on hospital and union responses collected mainly in late 2025 and early 2026. They are not a live audit of today’s schedules. The coalition argues that funding longer hospital operating hours would make better use of equipment already in place.

Hospital finances add pressure

In September 24 reporting, The Canadian Press said HHS was planning to eliminate approximately 413 positions while facing a projected $150-million deficit for 2026–27. About one-third of the affected positions were vacant; eliminating positions does not mean the same number of employees will be laid off.

HHS’s explanation, reported from an internal memo, was that rising costs and demand were outstripping available funding. The Ministry of Health said the changes would not affect patient services or access. Unions disputed that assurance and warned that fewer staff would put care under strain.

Ontario’s case for community clinics

The province announced $155 million over two years in June 2025 for 57 new community surgical and diagnostic centres offering MRI, CT and gastrointestinal endoscopy services. It presents the expansion as a way to reduce waits and provide care closer to patients.

That policy expands private delivery of publicly insured services. It does not mean patients must pay privately for an OHIP-insured scan. Ontario says centres cannot deny an insured service because someone declines an uninsured upgrade, and patients cannot pay to receive insured services faster.

Promises need measurable results

A recent Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study adds another challenge to the government’s argument. It reports that median waits increased for eight of 12 priority procedures between 2017 and 2025, including MRIs, and argues that outsourcing has not delivered the promised improvement.

That trend does not, on its own, prove privatization caused every delay. It does underline why announcements of new capacity need to be tested against completed scans, actual patient waits, staffing and cost.

For Hamilton, the central question is whether Ontario’s spending choices expand the total care available—or shift delivery while existing hospital capacity remains constrained. Comparing the cost and staffing required for extended hospital hours with clinic contracts would help patients judge the policy on results.

Sources: Ontario Health Coalition report, Hamilton MRI findings on page 16 of the PDF; The Canadian Press via CityNews, September 24; Ontario’s diagnostic-centre announcement; Ontario’s patient-payment protections; CCPA: Not adding up.

AI-generated editorial illustration for The Northern Current. A conceptual MRI room, not a photograph of a Hamilton hospital.