New $1.25m cath lab for Nelson
The Nelson Marlborough District Health Board has approved a new $1.25 million cardiology suite for Nelson Hospital.
In August, it was identified that the cardiology interventional suite, or cath lab was nearing the end of its 10 year life and was experiencing a number of failures.
The cath lab had intermittent concerns around image quality and radiation exposure.
A business case to implement a new cardiology suite was approved at a full meeting of the health board on Tuesday.
A catheterisation laboratory or cath lab is an examination room in a hospital or clinic with diagnostic imaging equipment used to visualise the arteries of the heart and the chambers of the heart and treat any abnormality found.
Chief executive Chris Fleming said in August the present cath lab was failing quite regularly and urgent maintenance and replacement had been undertaken to stabilise it at the time.
A report to the board shows there were five cardiac cath lab failures or breakdowns between July 2015 and January 2016 which related to a loss of imaging ability, equipment malfunction and a cooling system failure.
In one case, the patient that had travelled from Wairau Hospital had to wait two hours until they could be transferred to another lab to be seen.
New equipment and additional items to ensure the same functionality as the current system was expected to cost $1.19m.
Related IT costs were estimated at $26,500 and the removal of current equipment and return to owner was $19,775.
There would be an additional cost with patients needing to travel outside the region installation.
For every day the installation process took, there would be 1.2 patients who would need to be transferred to Capital and Coast District Health Board in Wellington.
Over a 12 day changeover, the for treatment during estimated cost of sending 15 patients outside the region was $150,000 with an additional $39,000 in patient transport .
The board has been advised that a more advanced technology will be available in October and implementation of the new cardiology suite will happen after that.