Dunstan Hospital is confident it has a strong case for a CT scanner and has welcomed official confirmation of the need for the equipment in the area.
The National Health Board panel's report on Wakatipu health services was made public last week and highlighted the need for a scanner to serve the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes area.
It recommended to the Southern District Health Board the equipment be based at Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown, but the board has sought further information and delayed making a decision on where the scanner should be located.
The company which runs Dunstan Hospital, Central Otago Health Services Ltd, had been lobbying for several years to have a scanner based there and would continue its campaign, chairman Russell McGeorge said yesterday.
"The report highlighted that there should be a scanner in this area and that's a big step forward, considering we've been trying make a case for that.
"It says there's only room for one [to serve the wider area] and we'd agree with that. The decision about where it's located should be evidence-based, taking a real hard look at the sort of patients that need scanning, and also the local support at the hospital.
"From the work we've done, we think basing it at Dunstan makes a lot of sense and it's a central location."
The health company had already talked to scanner manufacturers and prepared a preliminary business case for it, Mr McGeorge said.
It was an expensive piece of equipment - "we're talking $1 million up" - and the annual maintenance costs were high.
Specialist staff would be needed and a dedicated room, with radiation shield, to house the equipment.
The number of severe trauma cases being dealt with should not figure in the decision on where to base the scanner, he said.
"For anyone with severe trauma, such as head injuries, they'd be sent through to a base hospital straight away, and it's important for there to be no delays in those transfers."
The health company considered the Wakatipu report at its meeting this week and agreed with the panel's suggestion greater co-operation should be encouraged between Dunstan and Lakes District hospitals, Mr McGeorge said.
There was already regular contact and co-operation between the staff of the two facilities, especially at clinical level.
"Although the report was obviously for Wakatipu, and Dunstan is very much on the fringes, it did highlight the need to consider health planning for inland Otago and Southland."
The company was happy with the recommendation for a new senior manager's role to be created in the board's executive to ensure Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago health services were provided independently of historic boundaries and in a way that best met the needs of patients.
"The two hospitals in this area are essentially quite different sorts of hospitals. Dunstan's focus is more medical and Lakes District is more trauma," Mr McGeorge said.
