Disappointment has been expressed over the failure of the Southern District Health Board to recruit radiologists, and its consequent decision to relinquish the southern breast-screening service from the middle of next year.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell said yesterday he was unsatisfied with the recruitment efforts, blaming board management for failing to secure two radiologists who had been keen on positions.
Board members and chief executive Carole Heatly had been ''let down'' by management, he said.
The board had a tendency to give up on services which faced problems, rather than finding a solution. The decision to let the contract go was disappointing, Mr Powell said.
PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said clerical workers' jobs hung in the balance while they waited to find out who would take over the service.
''There are a lot of unanswered questions in terms of whether any new provider will want to take on existing staff and in that regard, it's probably our members whose jobs are most at risk.''
The union was concerned the move increased the risk of service problems, because screening would be separated from diagnostic breast-care.
''The consultation on this proposal has been far from ideal, and we believe the DHB needs to start giving some clearer answers to staff and to the women of Otago and Southland over the future of breast screening services,'' Mr Wagstaff said.
Southern District Health Board member Kaye Crowther yesterday said it was expected a new breast screening provider would lease public breast-screening facilities in Dunedin and Invercargill.
Mrs Crowther said board members assumed a new provider would utilise existing facilities, but it was for the successful tenderer and the National Screening Unit to determine.
Yesterday, the Public Service Association (PSA) warned there was no guarantee women would not have to travel to Christchurch for screenings. However, a spokesman for the National Screening Unit said screening mammography would be provided in Otago and Southland as a condition of the contract.
As well as fixed facilities in Dunedin and Invercargill, a mobile unit is used in some outlying areas.
Mrs Crowther was not sure whether any breast-screening radiologists would be based in the South under a new provider, or whether all screen readings would take place elsewhere.
Mrs Crowther said the move was needed to ensure the safety of the service.
BreastScreen South, owned by Pacific Radiology Group Ltd, provides the national screening programme for the rest of the South Island.
Yesterday, its programme manager, Joan Miles, in Christchurch, declined to comment on whether the company would tender for the service.
eileen.goodwin@odt.co.nz
