Last week, the Otago Daily Times reported that Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) expected to outsource 89,589 radiology procedures in the Southern Health District, more than elsewhere in New Zealand.
HNZ director of strategy and planning Rachel Haggerty said this week the number was reflective of the need to meet "all available demand" in the district.
It was the first time HNZ had decided to do such a tender on a national basis.
"We are seeking to get better value for our patients across the country.
"For the Southern district, the larger number is due to historical differences. Different former health board districts had differing levels of service."
HNZ Southern operations director Hamish Brown said the worldwide health workforce shortage continued to affect both public and private radiology providers in many areas across Aotearoa.
"While we do have vacancies within our radiology workforce, we are mitigating the impact through a number of outsourcing arrangements across the district.
"This means we can continue to deliver radiology services to our patients."
There are about 100 fulltime equivalent (FTE) positions filled in the Dunedin Hospital radiology department, and about 15 FTE vacancies.
At Southland Hospital there are about 41.4 FTEs working in the radiology department, and about 9.3 FTE vacancies.
Ms Haggerty said there had been an increase in outsourcing across the country in the past three years.
"But that’s been a trend across the world — the demand for radiology has doubled over the past 10 years.
"With that level of increase, the private sector has seen an opportunity to invest at a faster rate than the public system."
Outsourcing had its place.
"We're working on keeping a balanced system. We want to build constructive relationships between the public and private sector.
"There are a large number of private radiology providers both here and in Australia which could apply for the tender.
"We need to make sure we keep our options open and we’re not captured by the local providers."
A lot of radiology procedures and services such as reading X-rays could be done remotely using digital technology.
Asked about whether the discrepancy in outsourcing concerned her, Ms Haggerty said it was "important everyone had reasonable access to healthcare".
"Certainly radiology is one of those areas that is identified where there was a difference, and this approach is part of addressing it.
"A good outcome would be a high-quality service that is good value for money.
"The needs of the communities and patients come first."
Last year, Dunedin Hospital’s radiology department was given a high-risk score in a report by the International Accreditation New Zealand.
This was because of aspects such as no nuclear medicine-trained radiologist at the hospital, meaning medical-imaging technology staff were under high stress, making decisions they were not trained to do or comfortable making.
