In March International Accreditation New Zealand - a Crown entity which audits laboratories and inspection bodies and certifies their competence - withheld accreditation from the SDHB's radiology service, citing concerns over asbestos, staffing levels, waiting lists and IT systems.
"IANZ had repeatedly been provided with `plans' which have either been discarded once clearance had been granted in good faith by IANZ assessors, or delayed indefinitely with no clear completion timelines," IANZ said in its report.
The SDHB pledged to resolve the problems, and has carried out extensive building work, as well as negotiating agreements with its IT supplier over continuing support for an information management system that was about to become outdated.
"We believe we now meet the re-accreditation requirements in respect of our facilities and in terms of our IT solution," SDHB specialist services executive director Patrick Ng said.
"We have gained approval to implement an additional evening shift for CT and weekend sessions for our MRI machines.
"We are actively recruiting for these but we have not yet successfully recruited the staff we need for these additional shifts/sessions."
The SDHB had asked IANZ whether it would consider re-accreditation while recruitment continued, or whether it would need the board to have the required changes in place before it would consider re-accreditation.
Radiology is continuing to operate at the SDHB to operate despite losing accreditation.
