Sylvia Lopez is 20-weeks pregnant, and estimates she’s spent more than 12 hours on the road travelling to and from ultrasound appointments so far.
The London, Ont., woman spent weeks calling imaging centres in her city and the surrounding area, but was told that there were no appointments available. Eventually she got a booking in a clinic an hour and a half away in Milton, Ont.
“I’ve been to Milton multiple times and it’s hard. It’s transportation, it’s logistics, it’s gas money, it’s everything,” she said.
Lopez is among many women in Ontario who are struggling to schedule routine ultrasound appointments due to growing waitlists and a shortage of sonographers.
More than 10 million ultrasounds happen across the country annually, according to Sonography Canada director of professional affairs Tara Chegwin.
“Even though the capacity within the system to provide more ultrasounds has grown, the demand has also grown,” she said. “This has been a longstanding challenge within the healthcare system.”
Ultrasound wait times are approximately four weeks on average in Ontario, according to a recent report from the Fraser Institute.
Contributing to that wait time is the provincial vacancy rate for sonographers, which was 20 per cent in 2024 Chegwin said, though expecting parents are often prioritized within the appointment system.
“For obstetric ultrasound, they have to occur at a specific time frame within the pregnancy, so those scans aren’t typically delayed like another type of ultrasound may be,” Chegwin said, adding that people getting abdominal, pelvic or thyroid ultrasounds may experience even longer waits.
“All of the sites are trying to get those scans done in the optimal window depending on the requisition and what the doctor requested, so everyone has their best interest in mind.”
Onus on parents
Parents say there is a lot of pressure that comes with trying to book an ultrasound, especially because each must be timed with specific milestones in the pregnancy.
“It’s so stressful. You already have so many things going on in your mind about planning and worries if the baby is OK,” said London mom Rebecca Kennedy Briand. “It’s scary thinking that maybe I can’t get the care that I need.”
Both she and Lopez said that after they confirmed their pregnancy and received an ultrasound referral from a practitioner, the onus was on them to find a sonographer.
“It was very time-consuming on my lunch hour at work,” Kennedy Briand said. “Sometimes you’re put on hold, sometimes you can’t speak to a person, sometimes you’re waiting in the queue for a very long time.”
Kennedy Briand, who had her baby in April, travelled 30 minutes to Woodstock, Ont., for ultrasounds throughout her pregnancy. She considers herself among the luckier parents.
“There are a number of platforms like Facebook and Instagram where people have discussed this and I would say I see at least one post daily of a mom saying, ‘I’ve been calling around and I can’t get an ultrasound. Where are you going?’” she said. “I’ve definitely seen moms post that they’re driving as far as Mississauga.”
That stress continues during ongoing travel to appointments, Lopez said.
“Emotionally, it’s been draining. The last one I went to had a heavy thunderstorm, the traffic on the 401, sometimes there’s accidents on the way that are not in your control. You’re a little bit anxious,” she said.
Push for more sonographers
Chegwin said there have been efforts to fill sonographer vacancies in the province.
“International recruitment of sonographers is one of the factors. There’s also a high number of new educational programs in the province to produce more graduates annually,” she said.
Until then, Kennedy Briand has advice for expecting parents.
“Be prepared. Be ready to drive … and know about [the challenges] in advance, so maybe you’re less stressed,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lopez is reminding parents that they should not be hard on themselves during the process.
“If there are any moms out there experiencing the same story as I am, I’d let them know they’re not alone and they’re not the only ones with bad luck. It’s just part of the system right now,” she said.
In a written statement provided to CBC News, a Ministry of Health spokesperson pointed to the province’s recent efforts to add new health care professionals across the province as one of several ways officials are working to lower wait times.
It also pointed to provincial rules in place to make it easier for those professionals to move to Ontario.
“Ontario is the first in Canada to establish As of Right rules for health care professionals, including medical sonographers, which allows professionals registered in other Canadian jurisdictions to begin to practice in Ontario immediately,” the statement reads.
“In May 2026, our government directed several regulatory health colleges to develop frameworks enabling allied health professionals to order or perform diagnostic ultrasounds. This change aims to speed up patient care and reduce wait times by letting practitioners use their full training.”
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