Dunedin Hospital patients are now waiting up to 40 weeks for a routine MRI scan, with efforts to reduce wait times mostly yet to bear fruit.
The wait for an MRI at 35 to 40 weeks compared with a straight 35 weeks reported to the Southern District Health Board's hospital advisory committee last month. The health board this week released an update on the situation following concerns expressed last month after the release of routine wait times. The board says it is making better use of the resources of the whole region, which means patients need to travel in some cases to Southland or Oamaru. It has also started MRI clinics on some Saturdays in Dunedin.
This week, patients were still waiting 40 weeks for a routine CT scan.
The wait for ultrasound in Dunedin had reduced by two weeks, and was now 22 to 26 weeks. Women's, children's and public health medical director Dr Marion Poore said while that appeared identical to the ultrasound waiting time last month, it had been incorrectly reported to the committee then. All urgent cases were being scanned within the two-week target time.
Dr Poore, in a statement, indicated the board expected to see improvements in the coming weeks.
''As technology and practices advance, the ... radiology service has seen an increase in the number of referrals for patients requiring more complex scans, which take longer to carry out,'' Dr Poore said.
''The quality of imaging services is high but we recognise that waiting times in Dunedin for routine scans is too long.''
