Central Otago's first CT scanner could be operational at Dunstan Hospital within six months.
After some wrangling about the best location for a scanner to serve the wider Central Otago and Queenstown-Lakes district, the Southern District Health Board last week resolved to install two scanners - one at Dunstan and one at Lakes District Hospital.
The Dunstan scanner would be installed as soon as possible, while the Queenstown one would be in place within two years, the board decided.
Central Otago Health Services Ltd (COHSL), which runs Dunstan Hospital, said all going well a scanner would be installed at Dunstan by the end of the year.
"That's our ideal. There's a lot of water to go under the bridge before then, planning, workforce, funding, etc, but we're confident working to that timeframe," COHSL deputy chairwoman Brenda Wills said.
The health company had been lobbying for a scanner at Dunstan for some time and there would definitely be a celebration when the equipment was operational, she said.
Company chairman Russell McGeorge, who had worked so hard on the project, was overseas, but would be "having a toast somewhere to celebrate the board's decision".
In a joint statement last week, the Wakatipu Health Reference Group and COHSL said the two-stage implementation of CT scanning was a "pragmatic and positive solution" for the delivery of services in the wider region.
They said having a scanner at Dunstan could be seen as a "regional gain" that would significantly reduce travelling times for patients.
It was accepted that the Queenstown scanner had to form part of an overall redevelopment of the Lakes District Hospital site, reference group chairwoman Vanessa van Uden said.
Total capital, operational and depreciation funding for the two scanner sites would be $5 million for the first seven years. The board would provide $2.2 million, a private investor $1.4 million and $1.4 million would come from the communities, funding and finance general manager Robert Mackway-Jones told the board.
