The thorny issue of where a CT scanner should be located to best serve the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes districts looks set to go back to community groups in the two districts.
In September, a National Health Board (NHB) panel recommended the Southern District Health Board support having a scanner at Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown to serve the wider region.
The Southern board then gave the panel extra data about the current use of CT facilities by Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes residents, and asked whether that changed its recommendation.
In a letter to board chairman Joe Butterfield, panel chairman Peter Foley said the group had reviewed the information and confirmed its support for Queenstown.
"The panel does not believe that the additional data supplied by the Southern DHB changes the rationale for the CT scanner being located at Lakes District Hospital." Mr Foley said.
A scanner in Queenstown would benefit the whole region by reducing travel time for patients and improving the ability of the medical team to diagnose and treat more conditions in a timely manner, he said.
His letter will be tabled at tomorrow's Southern District Health Board meeting in Dunedin, along with recommendations from the board's finance and funding general manager, Robert Mackway-Jones. Mr Mackway-Jones has suggested the board note the panel's confirmation of its stance on where the scanner should be located and also note the wish of Central Otago Health Services Ltd, which runs Dunstan Hospital at Clyde, to have a CT scanner based at Dunstan.
The scanner would require "significant community funding for both capital and running costs" so the board should talk to the appropriate community groups in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes to try to reach consensus on a site, he recommended.
The executive officer of the soon-to-be dissolved Wakatipu Health Trust, Maria Cole, was pleased to hear the panel had backed its initial decision.
"When you consider the number of people that have to leave Queenstown for CT scans, the number of tourists, access to an international airport and the growing population of the area, there's a growing case for a CT scanner in the district."
A lack of CT outpatient clinics at the Lakes District Hospital contributed to a perceived greater demand for the service at Dunstan Hospital.
Queenstown "actually being closer than going to Clyde" from Wanaka was also an important factor when considering the need from skifield injuries, she said.
Central Otago Health Services Ltd has been lobbying for a CT scanner at Dunstan for several years. Company chairman Russell McGeorge, of Wanaka, is surprised the panel confirmed its original recommendation.
"We provided some additional information for them from a clinical perspective relative to the scanner, but obviously that didn't change their mind, so we're a little disappointed."
Dunstan was still "very keen" to further its case for a scanner, he said.
Asked if it was a "lost cause" now for Dunstan, Mr McGeorge said the health board had yet to make a decision on the scanner's location.
