DHB support to base the scanner at Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown was one of 21 recommendations by the National Health Board (NHB) panel in its report on sustainable Wakatipu health services. The recommendations were discussed during the DHB's monthly meeting in Queenstown yesterday.
Panel chairman Dr Peter Foley, of Napier, told board members scanners had become almost an essential tool and its base at the Lakes hospital was "a clinical decision, not a numbers decision". He expected it would be community funded.
DHB chairman Joe Butterfield, of Timaru, said board members were aware of community lobbying for a scanner at Dunstan Hospital, Clyde. Demand in the Lakes and Central Otago districts did not support two scanners, "so there will have to be a sort-out".
Mr Butterfield told the board he had been advised by DHB chief executive Brian Rousseau there was data not made available to the panel. The chairman asked the board to "park" the CT recommendation for a month so the panel and DHB management could return to the next board meeting with more information.
Dr Foley accepted the postponement, "as long as you're not throwing it out".
Board member Dr Malcolm Macpherson, of Alexandra, said the "risk is we find ourselves in a lose-lose situation between warring communities" over where the scanner was based.
Wakatipu Health Trust executive officer Maria Cole said after the meeting the trust told the DHB a scanner in Wakatipu was the top priority four years ago.
Wakatipu Health Reference Group chairman Graeme Todd said, also after the meeting, many factors needed to be considered in favour of a Lakes hospital scanner, including ski area injuries and visitor volume.
A scanner would cost an estimated $750,000, not including operating costs, and there was "a realistic expectation" the community would have to raise funds for it, Mr Todd said.
The board also agreed yesterday to seek the NHB's financial analysis, referred to in the Wakatipu report, but not included.
This followed concerns raised by board member Richard Thomson, of Dunedin, who said he needed all the information on which to make a decision and while the report asserted the proposals were "cost neutral", the information was not included.
Asked if management had seen the analysis, Mr Rousseau said he had not.
