A private Queenstown digestive-health services centre’s secured a Health New Zealand contract to provide colonoscopy and gastroscopy services for eligible public patients in this region.

It’s designed to ease pressure on public hospital waiting lists and provide closer-to-home procedures.

“We are delighted to be able to support the public health service by providing additional endoscopy capacity here in Queenstown,” MacMurray Centre clinical director Dr Ian Bradford (pictured) says.

“Access to timely diagnosis can make an enormous difference to patients and their families.”

That can be crucial, he explains, in diagnosing conditions including  bowel and oesophageal cancer.

He’s delighted to be collaborating with the public health system.

“By working together and making the best use of available expertise and facilities, we can help more people receive the investigations they need, closer to where they live.”

Bradford adds it’ll help those living not only in Queenstown but also Wānaka, Cromwell and surrounding communities who’d normally have to travel to Invercargill.

He notes colonoscopy allows specialists to examine the bowel, investigate symptoms and identify or remove potentially precancerous polyps. Gastroscopy examines the upper digestive tract, including the oesophagus and stomach, where important conditions may otherwise go undetected.

scoop@scene.co.nz