If patients feel
they have been unfairly denied a colonoscopy at Dunedin
Hospital they should discuss it with their general
practitioner or contact his own office, Otago District Health
Board chief executive Brian Rousseau says.
He had not received any correspondence on the issue or been
contacted by patients since the Otago Daily Times broke the
news, more than week ago, of GP concerns about access to
colonoscopy, he said.
The matter was raised with Mr Rousseau because it appeared
some of those who had contacted the ODT may not have been on
the list of concerns raised by the GPs in a recent survey
organised by Southlink Health executive director Prof Murray
Tilyard.
In that informal survey, 26 GPs cited 51 patients they were
concerned about, including 25 patients they said had been
refused colonoscopies who were later found to have cancer.
Health Minister Tony Ryall has called for an urgent report on
the matter and the referrals cited by the GPs will be audited
by the Southern Cancer Network once the GPs have provided the
patient-identifying national health index numbers.
An October newsletter for Otago GPs shows the board is unable
to meet its targets for waiting times for colonoscopies or
gastroscopies.
The target waiting time for urgent colonoscopies is less than
two weeks, but the existing waiting time is up to a month.
Semi-urgent cases should be seen in less than a month, but
the current time is one to two months.
Routine cases, which should be seen in less than three
months, are being seen in three to six months.
Differences in targets and actual waiting times are similar
for gastroscopies, with routine cases waiting up to five
months instead of less than three months.
The board is short about 1.5 full-time gastroenterologists.
In September, the board hospital advisory committee was
advised the gastroenterology department would be adding a
regular colonoscopy list, to be performed by a general
surgeon, to improve the service.
Note: Colonoscopy is a procedure which examines the
colon, while gastroscopy examines the upper digestive tract.
• Anyone wishing to contact Mr Rousseau's office should
telephone Dunedin Hospital on 474-0999 and ask for Mr
Rousseau's personal assistant.
elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz
