A new teleradiology project for the Fiordland Medical Centre, which secured funding from the Ministry of Health's 2009-10 Rural Innovation Fund, will be of huge benefit to patients, Clutha Southland MP Bill English says.
The medical centre received $50,000 from the fund, which will allow it to buy a digital cassette reader so medical staff can develop X-ray images, which could then be stored and sent electronically to orthopaedic surgeons and doctors at Southland Hospital.
Mr English said he was "delighted" Fiordland had been successful in securing the funding, which would reduce travelling time for patients and allow for a faster, more convenient, reporting of injuries.
"Anything that can be done to improve the health services of people in rural areas is positive.
"Until now, the centre has used hard-copy films, which cannot be transmitted, so the only way injuries can be discussed with specialists is over the phone.
"Patients often had to travel many hours to see a doctor at Southland Hospital, only to repeat the trip south for follow-up visits."
Mr English said the new technology would allow hospital staff to access X-ray images, make decisions on the management of patients in a shorter time frame and "short-circuit the huge distances" people in Fiordland had to travel in the past.
The teleradiology project would also give Fiordland-based doctors better and more immediate access to information, improving their ability to care for patients, he said.
"I am supportive of any technology which can improve the health services of people in rural areas, like Fiordland, and I think it's excellent that patients in the area will now have access to the types of services that people in urban areas take for granted."
