MRI near Narrabri, NSW

There is no MRI scanner in Narrabri. The closest is Alpenglow Tamworth Diagnostic Imaging, 137 km away in Tamworth — about 2 hr 14 min in the car. After that, the options are Hunter New England Imaging - Tamworth Rural Referral Hospital in Tamworth (137 km) and Castlereagh Imaging Tamworth (now Hunter Imaging, Sonic Healthcare) in Tamworth (138 km).

All of them are on the Australian Government's list of Medicare-eligible MRI locations (last updated 17 February 2026), so a Medicare rebate is possible for scans done there. Whether your scan attracts one depends on the item your referral asks for and on who wrote it — GPs can request a limited set of MRI items and specialists can request more.

Locally, Narrabri is covered for x-ray, ultrasound and CT. A referral for one of those can be done here: everything Narrabri has.

To put 137 km in context: of the 1544 NSW towns we hold, 21 are further than Narrabri from a MRI service. It is a real trip, and worth planning as one.

There is no way around the distance: 137 km each way. Before you commit to it, two things are worth a phone call — your state's patient travel assistance scheme, which exists for people in exactly this position, and whether any service closer to Narrabri visits on a roster. The register cannot show us visiting services.

Across New South Wales, 204 practices are accredited for MRI and 84 of those are outside the capital. That is the arithmetic behind the distance above — MRI is not spread evenly, and Narrabri sits in one of the gaps.

Accreditation windows: Alpenglow Tamworth Diagnostic Imaging to 31 October 2027, Hunter New England Imaging - Tamworth Rural Referral Hospital to 30 June 2027 and Castlereagh Imaging Tamworth (now Hunter Imaging, Sonic Healthcare) to 31 August 2027. We drop a modality the day its accreditation lapses, so if it is listed above it is current.

Of the five practices listed, all publish a phone number, all have a website and two list opening hours. Ring before you go rather than assuming — hours move, and not every accredited scan runs every day.