Southlanders offered Dunedin colonoscopies

‘‘Overall, we [have] sufficient physical capacity to complete more scoping schedules but are currently constrained by staffing levels.’’ Patrick Ng SDHB executive director of specialist services

Southland patients waiting too long for their surveillance colonoscopies are being offered scopes in Dunedin instead.

The Southern District Health Board reported exceeding its targets for urgent and non-urgent colonoscopies in March.

The board’s executive director of specialist services, Patrick Ng, said work was needed to make sure all patients got their surveillance colonoscopies within the recommended 84 days.

The board has been working to improve its colonoscopy services after a series of independent reviews found access to scopes had been rationed to the detriment of patients.

All wait list categories are now being seen within the time frames recommended by the Ministry of Health except for the surveillance wait list, which is for patients who need routine checks.

Ng said 181 patients from Southland and 10 from Dunedin had waited longer than 120 days for a surveillance colonoscopy. As part of a recovery plan, the clinical leader for the gastroenterology service at Southland Hospital was contacting patients individually to offer them scopes in Dunedin, he said.

Utilisation data collected for the endoscopy unit at Southland Hospital showed more sessions could be added with more resources, Ng said.

‘‘Overall, we [have] sufficient physical capacity to complete more scoping schedules but are currently constrained by staffing levels,’’ he said.

The department also wanted to understand why referrals were declined, Ng said. He hoped to be able to present this information to the Hospital Advisory Committee meeting in July, he said.