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Some women in the Halifax area say a 15-month wait for routine mammograms is “appalling” and fear the delays will lead to late-stage cancer diagnoses.
Cynthia McCutcheon thought she was being proactive last week when she called to book an appointment for September.
When the booking agent mentioned July, McCutcheon thought it was too early. She said she was “really shocked” to realize the date was in 2027.
“I think it’s unacceptable,” she said. “I think women’s health is not a priority for our government.”
As of last week, the earliest appointment in the region was in August 2027 at the Cobequid Community Health Centre. The Dartmouth location was booking for September 2027, while the clinic at the Halifax Shopping Centre was booking for October 2027.
By comparison, wait times in Prince Edward Island are nearly half as long. In Toronto, some clinics have posted wait times of two weeks.
The current booking dates contrast sharply with the Nova Scotia government’s posted wait times.
The median wait for a screening appointment is 73 days at the Halifax clinic, or up to 287 days for those in the 90th percentile.
“It’s just not the care or standard that we should have here,” McCutcheon said. “Why are women in Nova Scotia being penalized?”
McCutcheon is worried that cancer cases will be diagnosed at a later stage because of screening wait times.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, Nova Scotia has the highest death rates for breast cancer cases in the country.
It estimates that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, while it projects 190 will die from the disease in Nova Scotia in 2026.
The IWK Health Centre, which runs the provincial breast screening program, declined an interview request, and instead sent a statement.
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It said the “most significant factor impacting wait times” was the national shortage of medical radiation technologists.
It said about one-in-three jobs in diagnostics and screening in the mammography department are vacant.
The IWK did not address questions about whether the new “One Person One Record” electronic system has contributed to the backlog.
“Wait times fluctuate across the province based on local resources and staffing,” the statement said.
The IWK encourages patients to travel to the South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater or use mobile clinics for more immediate availability.
Cheryl Coolen of Halifax said she’s likely going to have to travel for her next checkup, even though she doesn’t drive.
Coolen, 58, has cystic breasts and has needed mammograms since she was a teenager. Last year, she found a lump and now requires checkups every six months.
“Here I am supposedly at risk and I have to wait?” Coolen said.
“How many people are going undiagnosed with what have you in this province because they can’t get any appointment for diagnostics? It’s appalling, actually.”
Because there’s no cancellation list, she plans to call back regularly to see if she can get in sooner than her April 2027 appointment.
McCutcheon said she’s so worried about the wait, she might resort to paying for a screening in Ontario to make sure she’s still on schedule.
Her grandmother died of breast cancer, so she knows all too well the importance of catching any issues early.
But she said more needs to be done to address the issue in Nova Scotia.
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