Six years of crippling pain
A Christchurch woman who has endured severe abdominal pains for six years is among thousands unable to get their health concerns diagnosed and treated by hospital specialists.
Samantha Scoble, 31, said her stomach could swell to the size of a beach ball leaving her barely able to walk.
Scobie’s GP referred her to a gastroenterologist but this was refused by the a letter from the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) in July.
Scoble said she used her health insurance to get a colonoscopy and endoscopy in 2015, and another colonoscopy earlier in 2016, but the tests did not reveal what was causing pain.
Her insurer would not cover any further procedures so she returned to her GP for a public referral. Scoble cannot understand why it was declined.
CDHB planning and funding general manager Carolyn Gullery said access to assessments was based on the patient’s symptoms and any previous tests they’d had.
Gullery said if symptoms changed or worsened and the patient developed anaemia, extreme weight loss, or severe vomiting and diarrhoea, the person’s GP could refer them again.
Taranaki gastroenterologist Dr Campbell White said a specialist assessment with a gastroenterologist would be appropriate for someone who had ongoing and unexplained pain.
Additional scans including gastroscopy, MRI and CT scans could be used to assess other parts of the bowel not able to be viewed with a colonoscopy or endoscopy.
There were not enough he said.
‘‘In an ideal world everyone with gastrointestinal symptoms will see a gastroenterologist because they could rule everything out and have a good conversation with them.’’
Nearly 60,000 New Zealanders were declined a ‘‘first specialist assessment’’ last year. gastroenterologists,