MRI Wait Times in Canada and the UK: Private Options Compared

Long imaging waits push many people in Canada and the UK to pay for a scan privately, and some look further afield. This guide sets out the published waits for MRI, CT and ultrasound, whether you can get an MRI without a referral, and what a private MRI costs at home compared with a public hospital in China.

How long is the wait for an MRI on the NHS?

In England, about one in five people waiting for an MRI has waited more than six weeks: NHS England's diagnostic statistics for July 2026 show 21.4% of the MRI waiting list past the six-week mark. Across all 15 key diagnostic tests, 443,200 people, or 23.1% of those waiting, had waited six weeks or more, against a standard of under 1%.

The published figures are not broken down by body part, so there is no official NHS wait for a spine MRI as such. In practice your wait depends on how urgent your referral is. Red-flag symptoms are scanned quickly, while a routine scan for long-standing back or knee pain can take much longer, and the wait to see a specialist before or after the scan often adds more time than the scan itself.

How long is the wait for an MRI in Canada?

The median wait for an MRI in Canada was 18.1 weeks, according to the Fraser Institute's 2025 Waiting Your Turn report, ranging from 12.0 weeks in Ontario and Quebec to 52.0 weeks in Prince Edward Island. The same report puts the overall median wait from GP referral to treatment at 28.6 weeks. The Canadian Institute for Health Information uses a different method but points the same way: its 2025 report found the median MRI wait in 2024 was 15 days longer than in 2019.

Private MRI exists in some provinces, such as Alberta, but you usually still need a requisition from a doctor, and the scan is only the first step: you still need a specialist to read the result with you and decide what comes next.

The two countries measure waits differently, so compare the direction rather than the exact numbers. We found no national statistic on imaging waits in Australia. For how private cover compares, see public waiting lists vs private cover.

How long is the wait for a CT scan, an ultrasound or a PET scan?

CT and ultrasound waits are shorter than MRI waits in both countries. In England, 9.9% of people on the CT waiting list had waited six weeks or more in July 2026. In Canada, the Fraser Institute's 2025 medians were 8.8 weeks for CT and 5.4 weeks for ultrasound. Our sources give an Ontario figure for MRI only, not for ultrasound, so we cannot quote a provincial ultrasound wait.

We found no published national wait for PET scans in our sources. A PET scan is usually ordered by a cancer or specialist team to stage or monitor a known problem, so it moves on that team's timetable. It is not a checkup test, and it is not something to arrange abroad on your own.

Can you get an MRI without a doctor's referral?

It depends on the country: in the US some imaging centres accept self-referred patients who pay cash, in the UK some private providers accept self-referral for certain scans, and in Canada you generally need a requisition, even for a private scan.

In the UK, a private scan can move things along, but it does not always replace the NHS route. Some NHS clinicians accept a private scan; others ask for their own. Ask your GP or consultant before you pay whether they will use the result.

In China, an MRI at a public hospital is ordered through an outpatient consultation or comes inside a checkup package. A consultation at a Beijing tertiary public hospital costs CNY 50 (≈ USD 7) to CNY 100 (≈ USD 15) depending on the doctor's seniority (Beijing Health Commission), and the doctor decides which scan answers your question. We found no reliable statistic on how quickly foreign patients are scanned in China. Claims of same-day scanning come from agencies, not official data, so we do not repeat them.

What does a private MRI cost, and what does it cost in China?

A private MRI of one body part costs roughly 249–750 GBP in the UK, 675–1,000 CAD at private clinics in Alberta and 300–800 USD at a US imaging centre, while patients at public hospitals in China report a median of about CNY 480 (≈ USD 72) for a plain MRI. In the US, hospital outpatient departments charge 1,200–3,500 USD or more, and Healthcare Bluebook puts the average out-of-pocket cost at about 1,325 USD (GoodRx, 2025–26).

China cut public hospital imaging prices in a national reform in 2024–25. Patients now report paying a median of about CNY 480 (≈ USD 72) for a plain MRI of one area, about CNY 1,000 (≈ USD 150) with contrast and about CNY 210 (≈ USD 31) for a plain CT, before insurance (Chinese patient reports, 2025–26). Foreign patients who have filmed their own scans report about the same, around CNY 480 (≈ USD 72). Each extra body area is charged separately. At a standard department, foreign patients pay the same listed price as local patients who pay without insurance; international departments charge more.

If you want a wider check, a scan can sit inside a checkup. Patients in China report a median of about CNY 1,500 (≈ USD 220) for a full-body checkup and about CNY 4,000 (≈ USD 600) for a high-end package; ask in writing which scans a package includes.

A trip only makes sense for a planned scan. If you have new or worsening symptoms, such as weakness, numbness or problems with bladder or bowel control, use your local urgent route. Before travelling, agree the clinical question with a doctor, take the images as well as the report, and remember that reports in China are written in Chinese, so your home doctor will need a translation.