Waitaki district patients cannot use the new CT scanner at Oamaru Hospital under the publicly funded health service unless they pay between $300 and $800.
However, Waitaki District Health Services Ltd, the Waitaki District Council-owned community company which runs the hospital, wants to change that situation. Waitaki District Health Services Ltd is also offering to reduce the CT (computer tomography) scanner waiting list of up to one year at Dunedin Hospital.
The new CT scanner, the only one in a community-owned hospital in New Zealand, started operation at the end of February, but is only available to patients who pay.
It is used to scan inpatient and emergency department patients and those who elect to pay for their scans themselves, or can access scans under funding from the ACC or medical insurance.
Board chairman George Berry yesterday confirmed that other Waitaki district patients had to pay for the service if they were accessing it under the public health system.
The district's doctors could not refer patients to Oamaru Hospital for scans under the public health system - they still had to go Dunedin Hospital.
The Otago District Health Board (ODHB) had the public health contract to provide the CT scanner service at Dunedin Hospital. Waitaki DHS was negotiating with the Otago board to take over that service for Waitaki district patients.
Mr Berry said it had also offered to carry out scans for patients in other areas of Otago to reduce the waiting list, which stands at nearly one year.
Negotiations were being held again tomorrow.
Oamaru Hospital manager Robert Gonzales yesterday said that, under its contract with the ODHB, the hospital provided X-ray and ultrasound services to publicly funded patients.
But that contract did not cover the CT scans.
The Dunedin Hospital held the funding for CT scans for Otago, including the Waitaki district.
Publicly funded patients who wanted scans in Oamaru would have to pay for them.
Waitaki District Health Services wanted to provide Waitaki patients with CT scans under public health funding, but could not do so without funding from the ODHB.
Mr Gonzales said the CT scanner was being used about half of the time it was available, although that was partly because the hospital was seeking accreditation for its use.
"We expect demand to increase greatly over a period of time,'' he said.
That left time for it to be available to Waitaki district publicly funded patients and it could also be used for patients outside the district to reduce the Dunedin scanner waiting list.
Mr Gonzales could not predict whether negotiations would be successful with the ODHB, or when the Oamaru Hospital could widen its CT scanner service.
"However, it needs to be operated both privately and publicly to be successful,'' he said.
The issue was raised by a Herbert resident who was excited at the prospect of being able to use the scanner at Oamaru Hospital, instead of travelling to Dunedin and facing a waiting list.
However, when she contacted Dunedin and Oamaru Hospitals she was told she could not use the Oamaru CT scanner unless she paid for it.
It was not available to publicly funded patients and she would still have to go to Dunedin for the yearly scans she needed because of a long-standing medical condition.
