Te Whatu Ora Southern has accepted a Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) finding the delay in giving the man a MRI scan breached the patient's rights and acknowledges it was down to a "systemic failure in its process".
An HDC report released this afternoon says the man, who had a history of cancerous melanoma, was referred for an urgent MRI in late 2021 after he went to see an orthopaedic surgeon about pain in his left leg.
The accepted practice at the time was for an urgent MRI scan to be carried out within 31 days.
The man's 20 week wait for a scan was more than four times that and by the time it was done it showed metastatic cancer in his spine, which had caused spinal cord compression.
The man, who is not named in the report, said: "This delay meant further spread of the cancer through my spine and organs, resulting in the current situation whereby the cancer is now not survivable."
Te Whatu Ora Southern told the HDC that since the events it had undertaken the following actions to improve its service:
An additional MRI scanner has been installed at Dunedin Hospital, which has resulted in an improvement in wait times for urgent MRI scans, with the average wait time as of March 2023 being 4-6 weeks, down from 15-20 weeks at the time of the man’s care)
It has updated its ‘Management of Referrals Radiology’ policy so staff have the necessary guidance to ensure appropriate management of urgent referrals.
It is working with Te Aho o Te Kahu/Cancer Control Agency and Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand to explore a digital solution to improve tracking of the progress of cancer patients through their diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance activities.
Dr Caldwell recommended that Te Whatu Ora Southern provide a written apology to the man, provide HDC with a progress report on the development of the above digital solution, a copy of its updated referrals management policy, and an update on its current wait times for an urgent MRI.
