Two hundred MRI scans will be contracted to the private sector to help clear a backlog at Dunedin Hospital, a report to today's Southern District Health Board hospital advisory committee says.
Waiting times for routine MRIs soared to 20 months at the end of last year, and a recovery plan to clear the backlog as well as reduce excessive waits for other scans was put in place.
The report says 200 of 450 Dunedin Hospital MRIs will be carried out by Otago Radiology, some will be transferred to Southland Hospital, and arrangements made for the rest.
As well as the 450, 169 patients were on an unscheduled waiting list, compared with 200 who had not received an appointment about the same time last year.
Current waiting times were being worked out.
Planning for an additional 100 CT scans was under way, with progress on this depending on the level of acute demand.
There were 46 patients on the unscheduled waiting list compared with 17 about the same time last year.
On the unscheduled waiting list for ultrasound were 185 patients. Last year, the tally was 275. A staffing increase meant additional ultrasounds could be completed in-house.
In Southland, up to 500 ultrasounds would be outsourced, and there were 36 patients on the unscheduled waiting list compared with 96 last year.
Staff overtime would be increased to carry out up to 800 extra X-rays at Southland.
There were 353 patients on the unscheduled waiting list for X-rays compared with 299 last year.
The impact of the Christchurch earthquake and a five-day MRI scanner break-down at Dunedin Hospital meant the backlogs had not been cleared as quickly as planned.
