The Southern District Health Board will consider a report by its funding and finance general manager, Robert Mackway-Jones, on Thursday recommending two scanners for the district.
The possible scanner location has been a contentious issue, and Mr Mackway-Jones suggested a staged two-site approach, with one installed at Dunstan Hospital "immediately" and another at Lakes District Hospital, in Queenstown, within about two years.
Dunstan had the most immediate need because of its "growing and ageing population," health board chief executive Carole Heatly said last week.
The board would work with Central Otago Health Services Ltd (COHSL), which runs Dunstan Hospital, and the health company had already indicated it was "likely to be able to secure community funding support in the short term," Mr Mackway-Jones said in his report.
That scanner would serve the wider district until the second scanner was installed at Queenstown. He suggested a private/public partnership approach to the installation of the Queenstown scanner.
The district health board should contribute a total of $2.2 million operational funding for each scanner over seven years, he said.
Key findings from a clinical forum the board held in February to discuss the scanner issue included a consensus that the major use of the scanner as a diagnostic tool would be for non-acute cases and the biggest population group to use it would be those aged 65 and older.
The forum group said it would not significantly alter the management of critical or life- threatening injuries, as those patients were likely to be transferred to another hospital.
Mr Mackway-Jones said the average number of publicly-funded scans for Central Otago and Queenstown-Lakes residents was 1300 a year.
Scanning rates per head of population for this catchment area were the lowest in the Southern district. If the rate was brought up to "Invercargill and Dunedin levels" the figure would be about 1700 a year, he said.
"This 'inequity' of access further supports the installation of local scanning capacity."
COHSL general manager Karyn Penno said it would be "inappropriate" for the company to comment before the health board meeting.
Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper welcomed the scanner proposal and said it was the result of of a "good business case" presented by COHSL.
"It's the cold hard facts that have made the difference.
"We've always thought that Dunstan should be first to get a scanner and that's what's come through in this report, with Queenstown to follow."
The Central Otago community had a good track record of financially backing the district's health services, Mr Lepper said..
The only concern he had was whether the wider Central Otago and Queenstown-Lakes district could afford two scanners rather than one.
Public meetings held in Alexandra, Cromwell and Wanaka in December to gauge support for a scanner based at Dunstan attracted about 700 people.
The board has sought feedback on the scanner recommendation from various agencies, including COHSL and the Wakatipu Health Reference Group.
