jacka.monty@abc.net.au<\/a><\/p>\nThe department spokesperson said the hospital was working through “a high volume of images”, with urgent and critical findings being prioritised.<\/p>\n
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Bridget Archer says additional resources are being deployed to address the backlog. (ABC News: Jonny McNee)<\/p>\n
Due to rising demand, the RHH has increasingly outsourced its medical imaging services \u2014including X-rays, MRIs, ultrasounds and CT scans \u2014 to private clinics.<\/p>\n
Robbie Moore, the Tasmanian secretary of the Health and Community Service Union, said this practice was contributing to the backlog of medical scans.<\/p>\n
“The privatisation of medical imaging services is causing delays in patients and doctors getting the results that they need to provide the next lot of treatment,” he said.<\/p>\n
“What it means is that scans can be missed \u2014 doctors aren’t necessarily made aware that scans have happened when they’ve been outsourced.”<\/p>\n
Ms Archer said the outsourcing of radiology was not connected to the build-up of medical scans.<\/p>\n
Diagnoses ‘not communicated’<\/p>\n
Dr Lumsden-Steel said the backlog was partially caused by issues with how scans conducted by private clinics are managed once they were returned to the RHH system.<\/p>\n
He said the lack of a clear, defined procedure for managing the images was creating a “clinical risk situation”.<\/p>\n
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Michael Lumsden-Steel says there are problems with the way scans are handled between the public and private systems. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)<\/p>\n
“If you leave the public system and get it done elsewhere, that [scan] doesn’t come straight back into our public system,” Dr Lumsden-Steel said.<\/p>\n
“It’s then not accountable and in the inbox of the person that can provide that link and close the loop of the patient.”<\/p>\n
Dr Lumsden-Steel said the outsourcing introduced an “element of risk” by causing delays in diagnoses.<\/p>\n
“When a diagnosis has been made by an investigation, it’s not communicated to clinicians, it’s not communicated to the patient,” he said.<\/p>\n
“If you don’t act on a diagnosis and you miss the window of treatment, someone goes from having something that’s curable to non-curable \u2014 and that means it’s a death sentence.”<\/p>\n
The health department spokesperson said many hospitals across Australia used a combination of in-house and outsourced reporting to manage periods of increased demand.<\/p>\n
They said the RHH was “actively strengthening systems and processes” to improve the tracking, reporting and communication of imaging results.<\/p>\n
“This includes enhanced oversight, additional resourcing where required, and escalation pathways to ensure patients are informed appropriately,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
The backlog of medical scans at the RHH was expected to be fully cleared by the end of February, they said.<\/p>\n
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