Patient guide · Costs and waiting times
Private MRI Cost and Wait Times: Canada, the UK, Australia and China
How long the wait for a non-urgent MRI is in Canada, England and Australia, how that compares with what is published for China, what a private MRI scan costs in each, and what to weigh before you travel for one. Waiting times are from official statistics and prices from published lists, read on 2 October 2026.
Quick answer. Waits for a non-urgent MRI run to weeks or months in Canada and England — a median of 59 days in Canada on provincial data, and about one in five patients on the list in England waiting six weeks or more. China publishes no national figure; reports from its large public hospitals range from within 3 days at one Guangzhou hospital to more than three weeks on average at ten Beijing hospitals surveyed in 2022. A private MRI costs CAD $640 to $990 at private facilities in Canada and from £249 at one UK provider. In China the government list price is ¥430 to ¥505 per body part at large public hospitals in Shanghai and Guangzhou, and an international department charges its consultation in addition. Prices are for reference only; the price that counts is the one the hospital or clinic confirms in writing.[1],[5],[25],[16],[9],[10],[11],[12]
How long is the wait for an MRI? Four countries at a glance
Each country counts waiting in its own way, so the figures below are not like for like. Canada reports how long patients had waited by the time they were scanned. England reports how long patients still on the list have waited so far. For Australia we did not find a national figure. China publishes none either, but a city survey, a newspaper survey and a hospital's own report give a picture of its large public hospitals; they are the last three rows.
Read each number together with what it counts. The sections that follow take the countries one at a time.
[1],[3],[5],[25],[16]
| Country | What is counted | Latest figure | Period and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | Days waited by patients who had an MRI, from provincial records | Half waited 59 days or less; one in ten waited more than 207 days | Scans done April to September 2025 — Canadian Institute for Health Information |
| Canada | Median wait, as estimated by specialists in a survey | 18.1 weeks | 2025 — Fraser Institute |
| England | Patients still waiting for an MRI at the end of the month | 391,764 waiting; 21.4% had waited six weeks or more | End of July 2026 — NHS England |
| Australia | — | No national MRI waiting-time figure found | — |
| China — Shanghai | How far ahead outpatients said their endoscopy, ultrasound, CT or MRI was booked, in a city survey of public hospitals | 84.37% under 7 days; 6.01% 14 days or more | 2021 — survey of 4,542 outpatients, as reported by Health Times |
| China — Beijing | Waits found by a newspaper that checked 10 large public hospitals | MRI: more than three weeks on average. CT: within a week at 8 of the 10 | Published March 2022 — Health Times |
| China — Guangzhou | One hospital’s own report | Large imaging examinations within 3 days; urgent scans the same day | November 2022 — The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University |
Canada: two ways of counting the same queue
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) compiles the waiting times that provinces report, for scans done between April and September each year. In 2025, half of patients had their MRI within 59 days and nine in ten within 207 days. In 2019 the same two figures were 42 and 151 days. CIHI also reported that 16% more MRI and CT scans were done across Canada in 2024 than in 2019 — waits grew even though more scans were done.
The Fraser Institute, a Canadian research institute, asks specialist physicians each year how long their patients wait. Its 2025 report puts the median wait for an MRI at 18.1 weeks, up from 16.2 weeks in 2024 and 12.9 weeks in 2023. The figure is the median of the specialists' answers: 1,577 responded in 2025, a response rate of 13.1%.
The two sources do not count the same thing — one uses recorded waits for scans that were done, the other what specialists estimate — so they should not be expected to match. Both show the wait getting longer, and both show large differences between provinces.
A provincial figure covers many hospitals. The wait at one hospital, or for one kind of scan, can be shorter or longer.
[1],[2],[3],[4]| Province | CIHI: half scanned within | CIHI: nine in ten scanned within | Fraser Institute survey: median wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 89 days | 240 days | 24.0 weeks |
| Alberta | 72 days | 220 days | 30.0 weeks |
| Saskatchewan | 51 days | 178 days | 26.0 weeks |
| Manitoba | 151 days | 360 days | 26.0 weeks |
| Ontario | 47 days | 187 days | 12.0 weeks |
| Quebec | Not reported | Not reported | 12.0 weeks |
| New Brunswick | Not reported | Not reported | 26.0 weeks |
| Nova Scotia | 68 days | 294 days | 24.0 weeks |
| Prince Edward Island | 42 days | 528 days | 52.0 weeks |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Not reported | Not reported | 33.0 weeks |
| Canada | 59 days | 207 days | 18.1 weeks |
England: the six-week standard
In England, diagnostic waiting is part of the NHS Constitution: patients should not have to wait six weeks or more for a diagnostic test, counted from referral. The operational standard is that fewer than 1% do. NHS England's monthly report says the standard was last met in November 2013, and that the NHS Standard Contract for 2025/26 seeks progress towards an interim threshold of at most 5%.
At the end of July 2026, 1,915,300 patients were waiting for one of the 15 key diagnostic tests, and 443,200 of them — 23.1% — had waited six weeks or more. For MRI alone, 391,764 patients were waiting, 21.4% of them for six weeks or more, up from 16.8% a year earlier. CT had the smallest share of long waits, at 9.9%.
The report also gives a median: at the end of July, patients on the list for any of the 15 tests had been waiting 3.0 weeks. These figures cover England only.
[5]
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Standard: share of patients waiting six weeks or more | Under 1% — last met in November 2013 |
| All 15 key tests: patients waiting | 1,915,300 |
| All 15 key tests: waiting six weeks or more | 443,200 (23.1%) |
| MRI: patients waiting | 391,764 (341,525 in July 2025) |
| MRI: waiting six weeks or more | 21.4% (16.8% in July 2025) |
| CT: waiting six weeks or more | 9.9% |
| MRI scans done during July 2026 | 452,866 |
| Median wait so far, all 15 tests | 3.0 weeks |
Australia: no single national figure
We did not find a national waiting-time figure for MRI in Australia. What the government does publish is how MRI is funded, and that is changing.
In Australia, whether Medicare pays towards an MRI has depended on whether the machine is covered by a licence. The 2024–25 federal budget changes this in two steps. From 1 July 2025, a practice that holds a licence has full Medicare eligibility for all the MRI equipment at that location. From 1 July 2027, the remaining ineligible machines at comprehensive diagnostic imaging practices become eligible and licensing ends. The aims the government states are shorter waiting times and lower costs through more competition between providers.
The OECD counts 16.7 MRI units per million people in Australia in 2023. That count includes only machines eligible for public reimbursement, so it leaves out the machines that were not yet eligible.
[8],[7],[6]Why the queues are long: scanners per person
One reason often given for long waits is the number of scanners. The OECD publishes how many MRI units each member country has per million people. Canada and the United Kingdom are at the low end of the countries shown here; the United States, Germany, South Korea and Japan have several times as many.
The OECD is careful about what this shows. It says there is no international benchmark for the right number of scanners: too few may lead to access problems, including waiting times, and too many may lead to overuse with little benefit for patients.
The counts are not fully comparable. The UK figure covers public-sector hospitals only, and Australia's covers only machines eligible for public reimbursement. China is not in this OECD dataset.
[7],[6]| Country | MRI units per million people | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 59.8 | 2023 | — |
| South Korea | 38.7 | 2023 | — |
| United States | 38.0 | 2021 | — |
| Germany | 37.1 | 2023 | Estimate |
| Australia | 16.7 | 2023 | Machines eligible for public reimbursement only |
| Canada | 10.4 | 2022 | — |
| United Kingdom | 8.6 | 2023 | Estimate; public-sector hospitals only |
What a private MRI costs: Canada, the UK and China
Private prices are set by each clinic or hospital, so none of these countries has one national private price. The table lists figures that have a published source. Each is in its own currency, as published; we have not converted them, because exchange rates move.
For reference only. The prices on this page are published prices, read on the dates shown. The price you actually pay is the one the hospital or clinic confirms to you in writing.
Canada. Canada's health technology agency surveyed private imaging facilities and reported an average cost of CAD $762 per MRI scan in the 2022–2023 fiscal year, with a range from $640 to $990 among the facilities that answered.
United Kingdom. Providers publish their own prices. As one example, Vista Health, which has scanning centres across the UK, lists one MRI scan at £249 off-peak, £360 standard and £380 for a fast-track appointment within seven days, with contrast £125 extra. The price includes a written report within three working days and online access to the images, and the provider accepts self-referral in most cases. We name it only as an example of a published price, not as a recommendation; other providers charge more or less.
Australia. We have not found a published average for a private MRI in Australia.
China. Large public hospitals charge from a government price list: ¥430 for a plain MRI of one body part in Shanghai and ¥505 in Guangzhou, at Grade III hospitals. International departments set their own prices, and what they publish is mostly the consultation rather than the scan: ¥500 to ¥1,200 per visit at the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangzhou. Adding the two gives roughly ¥1,000 to ¥1,700 for a consultation and a plain MRI of one body part there — a sum of published items, not a quote. Our page on MRI and scan prices in China has the full tables and the rules for contrast and for more than one body part.
[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14]
| Where | Published figure | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Canada — private imaging facilities | CAD $762 on average; range $640 to $990 | Cost per MRI scan at the facilities that answered a national survey, fiscal year 2022–2023 |
| United Kingdom — one provider (Vista Health) | £249 off-peak, £360 standard, £380 fast-track; contrast £125 extra | One scan, with a written report and online access to the images |
| China — Shanghai, public hospitals | ¥430 plain, ¥455 enhanced | Government maximum price per body part at Grade III hospitals, in force from 30 April 2025 |
| China — Guangzhou, public hospitals | ¥505 plain, ¥550 enhanced | Government maximum price per body part at Grade III hospitals, catalogue of 1 September 2025 |
| China — international department, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University | ¥500 to ¥1,200 per visit | International outpatient consultation, by the doctor’s rank; the scan is charged in addition |
| China — Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing | ¥2,300 | MRI check-up item on the hospital’s health management platform; the page does not say what it covers |
How quickly is a scan done in China?
China publishes no national waiting-time statistic for MRI that we could find. Three kinds of published evidence exist. All of it describes the ordinary service of large public hospitals in the biggest cities.
A city survey. Shanghai's 2021 satisfaction survey of public medical institutions covered 4,542 outpatients who had an endoscopy, ultrasound, CT or MRI. Of these, 84.37% said the examination was booked less than 7 days ahead, and 6.01% said 14 days or more. At Grade III specialist hospitals, 11.03% of outpatients waited 14 days or more for imaging.
A newspaper survey. In March 2022 Health Times, a newspaper published by People's Daily, checked ten large public hospitals in Beijing. The wait for an MRI averaged more than three weeks, and at one hospital an enhanced abdominal MRI was about three months away. CT was quicker: within a week at eight of the ten.
What the government did next. A National Health Commission rule in force from 6 June 2022 tells medical institutions to shorten the appointment wait for examinations including CT and MRI. In the same month Beijing's health commission said it would regularly report the share of outpatient CT and MRI scans done within 7 days of booking, and of inpatient scans done within 24 hours. We have not found published results of that reporting.
Hospital reports. In November 2022 the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangzhou, reported that it had cut the wait for large imaging examinations to within 3 days, with urgent scans done the same day. The table shows this and two other statements from hospitals we profile.
How China compares
Set side by side, the published figures for China's large public hospitals run from a few days to about three weeks. In Canada the median wait is 59 days, and in England one patient in five on the MRI list has waited six weeks or more. On these figures the wait in China is shorter, often much shorter.
The comparison is rough. The Chinese figures are from 2021 and 2022, and come from surveys and hospital reports rather than national statistics. The longest wait reported in Beijing was about three months. International departments are not covered by any of these figures, and we have not found a published waiting time for them. Before you book travel, ask the hospital's international unit how soon the scan can be done and when the report will be ready.
A scan in a Chinese hospital is ordered by a doctor at that hospital. The first step is therefore a consultation — in the international unit, if the hospital has one — and the doctor issues the request for the scan.
China had 38,710 hospitals at the end of 2024, of which 1,876 held the highest grade, Grade III, Class A. The grade describes a hospital's scale and scope. It does not tell you how quickly a scan can be booked. Our comparison table shows which of the hospitals we profile list imaging departments.
[25],[26],[27],[28],[16],[15],[17],[1],[5],[18],[19]| Hospital and page | What it states |
|---|---|
| The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University — press report carried on the hospital’s site (November 2022) | The wait for large imaging examinations had been cut to within 3 days, with urgent scans done the same day |
| Peking Union Medical College Hospital — International Medical Services notice on CT and MRI (2018) | MRI is booked by the medical staff on the doctor’s request; results can be collected 2 working days after the scan |
| Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital — PET-CT notes (2023) | Book at least one day ahead; the report can be collected three working days after the scan |
Travelling to China for a scan: what to weigh
This section is about non-urgent scans. If your doctor has said a scan is urgent, follow their advice at home.
Count the whole cost
The scan is the small part of the bill. Add the consultation, flights, a few nights' stay and travel insurance, and compare that total with the price of a private scan at home. A trip for one scan alone will often cost more than paying privately at home. It makes more sense when the scan is part of something larger: a health check-up, a specialist consultation, or treatment you are already planning in China.
Check the entry route
Ordinary-passport holders from the UK, Canada and Australia can enter mainland China without a visa for up to 30 days. The purposes that policy lists are business, tourism, visits, exchange and transit; medical treatment is not among them. The route that names medical treatment is the S2 visa, backed by a certificate from the hospital. Hainan Province has its own visa-free entry that does include medical treatment, for stays within Hainan. See planning a medical trip to China, and confirm with the Chinese embassy or visa centre that serves you.
Agree the details in writing before you book flights
- Which scan, of which body part, with or without contrast.
- The price in the international department, and whether it includes the consultation, the contrast agent and the report.
- The date of the consultation and of the scan, and when the report will be ready.
- Whether the report can be issued in English, and how you will receive the image files.
The questions to ask before you book on our MRI and scans page can be sent to the hospital as they are.
Stay long enough
Allow time for the consultation, the scan and the report. The hospital pages quoted above mention two to three working days for the report after the scan.
[21],[22],[23],[24]
Taking the results home
Before you go, ask your own doctor whether they will work from a scan done abroad, and what they need from it. Usually that is the image files as well as the written report. Whether a doctor or hospital at home accepts the scan is their decision.
Ask the hospital in China for the images in digital form — DICOM files, on a disc or by download — and for the report in English, or have it translated. Under the national pricing guideline of November 2024, processing, uploading and storing the digital images is part of the price of the scan, and printed film is bought only if you want it.
Arrange who will go through the result with you at home before you travel. Our guide to preparing your medical records covers what to carry in each direction.
[20]
What ChinaMedMap does, and does not do
ChinaMedMap is not a hospital, does not sell scans and does not give medical advice. We profile hospitals in China from official sources and help international patients put a request to the right hospital and department.
Tell us which scan you need and where you are travelling from, and a person on our team will ask hospitals that list imaging departments whether they can do it, how soon, and at what price for an international patient — and reply to you with what they say. Nothing is shared with a hospital until you agree. We cannot promise that a hospital will accept you, a date or a price.
Tell us what you need, or see how it works.
Questions international patients ask
How long is the wait for an MRI in Canada?
On provincial records compiled by CIHI, half of the patients scanned between April and September 2025 had waited 59 days or less, and one in ten had waited more than 207 days. A Fraser Institute survey of specialists puts the median at 18.1 weeks in 2025. Waits differ widely between provinces.[1],[3]
How long is the NHS wait for an MRI in England?
The standard is that fewer than 1% of patients wait six weeks or more for a diagnostic test. At the end of July 2026, 391,764 patients were waiting for an MRI and 21.4% of them had waited six weeks or more.[5]
How much does a private MRI scan cost in the UK?
Each provider sets its own price. As one example, Vista Health lists one scan at £249 off-peak, £360 standard and £380 fast-track, with contrast £125 extra, as read on 2 October 2026. Check the provider's current price before you book.[10]
How much does a private MRI cost in Canada?
A survey of private imaging facilities by Canada's health technology agency found an average cost of CAD $762 per MRI scan in 2022–2023, with a range from $640 to $990.[9]
How much does a private MRI scan cost in China?
At large public hospitals the government list price for a plain MRI of one body part is ¥430 in Shanghai and ¥505 in Guangzhou. International departments add their own consultation fee — ¥500 to ¥1,200 at one Guangzhou hospital — so a consultation and one plain MRI there come to roughly ¥1,000 to ¥1,700. These figures are for reference only; ask the hospital for its price in writing.[11],[12],[13]
How fast can I get an MRI in China?
China publishes no national figure. Published reports from large public hospitals range from within 3 days at one Guangzhou hospital to more than three weeks on average at ten Beijing hospitals surveyed in 2022; in a 2021 Shanghai survey, 84% of outpatient scans and endoscopies were booked within 7 days. International departments are not covered by these figures, so ask the hospital before you book travel.[16],[25]
Is the wait for an MRI shorter in China than in Canada or the UK?
On the published figures, yes, though the comparison is rough. Reports from China's large public hospitals run from a few days to about three weeks, against a median of 59 days in Canada, and a list in England on which one patient in five has waited six weeks or more. The Chinese figures are from 2021 and 2022 and are not national statistics.[25],[16],[1],[5]
Can I enter China visa-free to have a scan?
UK, Canadian and Australian passport holders can enter mainland China visa-free for up to 30 days, but medical treatment is not one of the purposes that policy lists. The S2 visa, with a hospital certificate, is the route that names it; Hainan's visa-free entry also includes medical treatment, within Hainan. Confirm with the embassy or visa centre that serves you.[21],[22],[23],[24]
Will my doctor at home accept an MRI done in China?
That is your doctor's decision, so ask before you travel. Bring home the image files and an English report, not only a printed summary.
This guide covers logistics, not medical advice. Rules change — check the dates on the references below and confirm with the hospital, the embassy or the authority named. This page was drafted with AI assistance from the official sources listed and approved for publication by ChinaMedMap. ChinaMedMap is not an emergency service; in mainland China call 120 for an ambulance.
References
- Wait Times for Priority Procedures in Canada, 2008–2025 — Data TablesCanadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) · English · dated 2026 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- Wait times for priority procedures in Canada, 2025Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) · English · dated 2025-06-12 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2025 ReportFraser Institute · English · dated 2025-12-09 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2024 ReportFraser Institute · English · dated 2024-12-12 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- NHS Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity Data: July 2026 Monthly ReportNHS England · English · dated 2026-09-10 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- Health at a Glance 2025: Diagnostic technologiesOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) · English · dated 2025-11-13 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- OECD Health Statistics: Medical technology availability (MRI units per million inhabitants)Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) · English · retrieved 2 October 2026
- Budget 2024–25: Reforming diagnostic imagingAustralian Government Department of Health and Aged Care · English · dated 2024-05 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- Use of MRI and CT in Private Imaging Facilities in Canada (2021–2023)Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH, now Canada's Drug Agency) · English · dated 2023-10 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- Private MRI Scan (published prices)Vista Health (United Kingdom) · English · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 附件：放射检查类医疗服务价格项目（沪医保价采发〔2025〕11号）Shanghai Municipal Healthcare Security Administration · Chinese · dated 2025-04-18 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 广州地区公立医疗机构立项指南目录（2025年9月1日）（中山大学中山眼科中心网站公示）Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University (publishing the Guangzhou price catalogue) · Chinese · dated 2025-09-01 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 关于特需医疗服务项目收费标准的公示 — 中山大学附属第一医院The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University · Chinese · dated 2026-06-30 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 北京协和医院健康管理平台 — 体检套餐列表Peking Union Medical College Hospital · Chinese · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 检查须知（CT、核磁） — 北京协和医院国际医疗部Peking Union Medical College Hospital, International Medical Services · Chinese · dated 2018-04-02 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 【南方都市报】将影像检查等候时间压缩到3天内，中山一院三大平台启用（中山大学附属第一医院网站转载）The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (reposting Southern Metropolis Daily) · Chinese · dated 2022-11-11 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 【科普】核医学科PET/CT检查注意事项 — 北京清华长庚医院Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital · Chinese · dated 2023-04-10 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 2024年我国卫生健康事业发展统计公报National Health Commission · Chinese · dated 2025-12 · retrieved 21 September 2026
- 医院分级管理办法（试行草案）, Ministry of Health, 1989 (reprint)Peking University Health Science Center (reprint of Ministry of Health text) · Chinese · dated 1989-11-29 · retrieved 21 September 2026
- 放射检查类立项指南出台 CT、磁共振、X光收费将执行新规！National Healthcare Security Administration · Chinese · dated 2024-11-20 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- NIA — List of countries eligible for unilateral visa-free entryNational Immigration Administration · English · dated 2026-02-17 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- Notice on China's Visa Waiver Policy for the UK and CanadaEmbassy of the PRC in the United Kingdom · English · dated 2026-02-15 · retrieved 24 September 2026
- Chinese Visa Application Service Center (Medan) — S2 document checklistChinese Visa Application Service Center · Chinese · dated 2025-07-15 · retrieved 21 September 2026
- 外国人区域性入境免签政策National Immigration Administration (国家移民管理局) · Chinese · dated 2026-08-20 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- CT、核磁检查，最长排队3个月！为何要这么久？Health Times (健康时报, published by People's Daily), carried by The Paper · Chinese · dated 2022-03-07 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- CT核磁检查排队时间长，结果不互认……国家卫健委的新规来了！People's Daily, carried by Tencent News · Chinese · dated 2022-06-10 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 国家卫生健康委办公厅关于印发医疗机构门诊质量管理暂行规定的通知（国卫办医发〔2022〕8号）General Office of the National Health Commission · Chinese · dated 2022-06-01 · retrieved 2 October 2026
- 北京市卫生健康委员会关于印发2022年北京市改善医疗服务行动计划的通知Beijing Municipal Health Commission · Chinese · dated 2022-06-27 · retrieved 2 October 2026
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