Queenstown's Lakes District Hospital is finally getting a CT scanner after a million-dollar-plus grant from the Central Lakes Trust.
The trust is also contributing $364,000 towards a replacement for Dunstan Hospital's 6-year-old scanner.
The scanner will be a first for Lakes District Hospital, which has made provision for housing it in its plans for a $6.5million upgrade that began last month.
Southern District Health Board (SDHB) chief executive Chris Fleming said the funding was "generous'', and the scanners would give the hospitals' clinicians greater confidence they were making the right decisions for their patients.
"Given the geographic distances involved in our district, having this peace of mind is so valuable.''
Central Lakes Trust chairman Tony Hill said the trust committed itself to paying for the Queenstown scanner some time ago, but had been waiting for the hospital's upgrade plans to be finalised.
Mr Hill, who is also a former member of a SDHB-appointed steering group overseeing the upgrade, said the scanner would be "fantastic'' for the region.
"The community has been waiting for this for a while.''
Lakes District Hospital Foundation chairwoman Jayne Macdonald said the scanner would be a major step in improving health and diagnostic services in the region, particularly given its growing population.
It would help reduce waiting times and "mitigate potential consequences which result from delay in care''.
Dunstan Hospital acting chief executive Debi Lawry said the hospital's new scanner was expected to meet its needs for six years.
The 64-slice scanner - a major upgrade on its 16-slice model - would mean children could be scanned there instead of having to travel to Dunedin.
Patients would also have access to the 128-slice scanner at Lakes District Hospital, when required.
A Central Lakes Trust media statement said both scanners would need an additional 20% in funding.
The SDHB would make up the balance for Lakes District Hospital, and Central Otago Health Inc for Dunstan Hospital.
The Otago Daily Times asked the SDHB when the new scanners were expected to be installed at the hospitals, but did not re
