Waitaki district patients funded by the public health system are unlikely "at this point in time'' to be able use the new CT scanner at Oamaru Hospital, part of a $18 million upgrade of the radiology department by its owner and operator, Waitaki District Health Services.
The new CT (computer tomography) scanner, in operation since earlier this year, can only be used by patients who pay, with scans costing on average between $300 and $800.
Those who are using it - utilising only half the scanner's available capacity - have medical insurance, are ACC patients or are willing to pay.
Publicly-funded patients in the Waitaki district have to go to Dunedin for CT scans because the Otago District Health Board (ODHB) holds the contract for those scans.
The Otago Daily Times approached the ODHB asking why publicly-funded patients could not use the Oamaru scanner.
It also understood some of those Waitaki district patients were being sent to Timaru with the South Canterbury Health Board being paid for scans from ODHB funding.
ODHB chief executive Brian Rousseau yesterday said there was no specific additional funding agreement between the ODHB and Oamaru Hospital for publicly-funded CT scans.
Before buying the scanner, the ODHB made it clear to Waitaki District Health Services it should not do that on the understanding that funding would be available.
"Oamaru Hospital is free to utilise the CT scanner for all patients, but the ODHB cannot provide additional funding at this point in time,'' he said.
However, the Oamaru Hospital would be considered as a provider, along with others, if additional procedures were sub-contracted.
The ODHB had no plans to purchase additional publicly-funded CT scans from Oamaru Hospital, Mr Rousseau said.
He said there was potential for the Oamaru scanner to be used to reduce waiting times in Dunedin, ranging from two to three weeks up to 26 weeks depending on the urgency.
"As with most health services, demand for publicly-funded CT scanning exceeds the ODHB's ability to fund, and prioritisation occurs on a needs basis,'' Mr Rousseau explained yesterday.
