Staff at a major Melbourne hospital have resorted to using aluminium foil and cardboard boxes in a desperate attempt to improve an MRI machine which has been producing compromised images.<\/p>\n
The issue at Maroondah Hospital has sparked fears over the accuracy of diagnosis of hundreds of patients. <\/p>\n
The hospital was forced to launch an investigation into the issue, which found serious failures with the protective Faraday cage \u2013 a room that surrounds the MRI machine and is supposed to block interference from impacting image quality.<\/p>\n
However, information seen by the Herald Sun has revealed the Faraday cage failed each one of its tests in a recent assessment that showed the shield was failing and scans risked being compromised by background interference, according to health department sources.<\/p>\n
Pictures of the Faraday cage, obtained by the Herald Sun, reveal hospital staff have resorted to using what appears to be kitchen foil in an attempt to block out interference and ensure the integrity of scans.<\/p>\n
The issue, which has been ongoing since at least January, has forced some patients to undergo repeat testing at Box Hill hospital.<\/p>\n
Health sources said the majority of scans affected were breast screenings while others including abdomen and spine scans have also been potentially impacted. <\/p>\n
Insiders said between 900 and 1000 scans may have been impacted and that patients \u201cshould request to review all their scans for mispathology\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hospital officials have confirmed that concerns were raised about the quality of images produced by the MRI unit, prompting an internal review and an assessment of whether any patients required repeat scans or further clinical follow-ups.<\/p>\n
But they insist compromised images could be readily identified by diagnostic experts, meaning there was no risk of diagnostic error.<\/p>\n
Eastern Health executive director Toni Gutschlag said the issue posed no risk to patient safety and had not impacted every scan.<\/p>\n
\u201cEastern Health takes the safety and quality of our diagnostic services extremely seriously, and patient care remains our highest priority,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile an RF shielding (Faraday cage) issue has been identified, only a small number of scans are impacted, and all images are rigorously reviewed to ensure diagnostic accuracy, patient safety has not been compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is understood the MRI service at Maroondah Hospital performs more than 900 scans each year, with patients referred for investigations relating to a wide range of conditions, including neurological disorders, cancers, musculoskeletal injuries and chronic disease management.<\/p>\n
It includes scans for patients at other hospitals including St Vincent\u2019s and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, a source said.<\/p>\n
Senior health sources said the Faraday cage and the almost decade-old MRI machine needed to be replaced.<\/p>\n
It is understood Maroondah Hospital is planning remediation works on the system.<\/p>\n
Liberal MP Nick McGowan, whose North-Eastern Metropolitan Region electorate takes in Maroondah Hospital, called for the immediate replacement of the equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a scandal. Something at Eastern Health is going drastically wrong when they are allowing lesser quality imaging for months on end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state government must immediately provide the funding to replace the MRI cage and provide a new MRI machine as this one is now outdated and well beyond its normal life cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MRI scanner at Maroondah Hospital is beset by radiofrequency leakage that degrades vital medical images. It is completely unacceptable that many local women, that anybody, is subjected to substandard MRI facilities because the state government refuses to fund a replacement shield and provide the world\u2019s most advanced MRI machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe aren\u2019t talking about a cosmetic upgrade; this is the fundamental infrastructure that keeps an MRI accurate.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy ignoring this leaking cage at Maroondah Hospital, the state government is effectively telling eastern suburbs families, my families, that their diagnostic precision isn\u2019t worth the budget expense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hear a lot of talk about modern healthcare from this Premier, but behind the doors of Maroondah Hospital, vital equipment is being undermined by broken infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shadow health minister Georgie Crozier said: \u201cVital equipment should be operating safely and effectively, but under Labor the priorities are all wrong when hospitals have to operate with substandard equipment\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, Health Minister Harriet Shing said adequate funding had been provided to the hospital amid a record $32bn investment in the public health system this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth services are required to monitor and maintain the condition of all equipment including equipment used in diagnostic services \u2013 it\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEastern Health has advised the MRI machine is still operational, and patient care has not been impacted.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur health services continue to receive record funding \u2013 ensuring every public hospital has what they need to keep delivering world-class care to Victorians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Staff at a major Melbourne hospital have resorted to using aluminium foil and cardboard boxes in a desperate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-533797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}