{"id":541527,"date":"2026-07-24T06:39:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/541527\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T06:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:39:57","slug":"sunlive-the-musical-chairs-of-medical-scanning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/541527\/","title":{"rendered":"SunLive – The musical chairs of medical scanning"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Phil Pennington of RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

Whakat\u0101ne has waited years for a medical MRI scanner, but it has somehow ended up in Masterton.<\/p>\n

Residents from the eastern end of Bay of Plenty must still travel to Tauranga for a scan in one of its seven MRI machines, all privately owned.<\/p>\n

Health NZ says it is working on a plan for Whakat\u0101ne \u2013 but its last one failed.<\/p>\n

June Goodhew says it has dragged on long enough.<\/p>\n

In May, the 85-year-old retired tutor was given a packed lunch at Whakat\u0101ne Hospital and sat in an ambulance headed for Tauranga and an MRI.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d had septicaemia.<\/p>\n

A second woman sat up front.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really felt sorry for her because, you know, she was in pain,\u201d Goodhew said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 11 o\u2019clock till 5pm, it was quite a long day for people that are unwell. I imagine the cost of our travel, plus nurse and driver, would have been large, plus, well, not good for those in pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Whakat\u0101ne had an MRI they could have just gone down the hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the futility of all this nonsense of us getting it, promising and then we don\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Whakat\u0101ne

\nWhakat\u0101ne Hospital. Photo \/ Screenshot, Google<\/p>\n

\u2018Something went pear-shaped\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2014 Whakat\u0101ne Hospital got a $67 million upgrade, the Government trumpeting about its \u201cmodern radiology department\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new building will ensure the 50,000 people living in the region continue to receive high-quality healthcare for many years to come,\u201d then-Health Minister Tony Ryall said.<\/p>\n

Modern \u2013 but with no magnetic resonance imaging machine for advanced body scanning.<\/p>\n

So locals tired of the 180km-round trip to Tauranga began pushing for one.<\/p>\n

Several years later, Health New Zealand began talks with Bay Radiology, part of a big nationwide private provider RCHNZ Medical Imaging Group, majority owned by Infratil, to put its MRI in a yet-to-be-built, specially designed unit at Whakat\u0101ne Hospital.<\/p>\n

Dr Victor Luca, mayor at the time, anticipated it would be installed by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe territory had been defined, the building had been designed, site works were about to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

But nothing happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe end of 2024 came and went, 2025 came and went.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all trying to uncover what had actually gone on … obviously something went pear-shaped,\u201d Luca said.<\/p>\n

\"Grey

\nGrey Power health campaigner Dr Victor Luca. Photo \/ Troy Baker<\/p>\n

\u2018Relocated to Masterton\u2019<\/p>\n

Three months ago, Health NZ Te Whatu Ora spelled it out to the Whakat\u0101ne Action Group, which had emailed asking why the machine sat in a crate at the Port of Tauranga for a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn agreement for a lease wasn\u2019t reached and the MRI has been relocated to Masterton. The MRI was owned by the private provider,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n

Health NZ told RNZ it terminated the deal with Bay Radiology over site constraints because of an earthquake faultline under parts of the hospital.<\/a><\/p>\n

Authorities have known the fault was near the hospital since at least 2016.<\/p>\n

More recently, they pinned down exactly where, and that area \u2013 where the MRI unit was to be \u2013 has now become an exclusion zone for new construction.<\/p>\n

Health NZ<\/a> said the existing hospital buildings were fine.<\/p>\n

The Whakat\u0101ne Action Group said the agency had been helpful lately but questioned why it did not find a suitable site in the first place.<\/p>\n

Bay Radiology declined to comment about Masterton getting the machine or what it said were \u201crecollections, or assumptions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the community\u2019s interest in this issue and understand the frustration many people feel,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some time, Bay Radiology has been seeking to work with Health New Zealand on an MRI service for Whakat\u0101ne.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we haven\u2019t reached an agreement on getting the MRI established yet, we hope we can progress this partnership opportunity to expand diagnostic imaging for the people of the Eastern Bays.\u201d<\/p>\n

New business case \u2013 but staffing hurdles<\/p>\n

Asked if the Masterton machine was available for scans it funded in Wairarapa, Health NZ said it did not know.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe machine is privately owned, as such we aren\u2019t privy to its current location or if it\u2019s being used in public or private care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luca has written twice in the local Beacon about what he calls \u201can absurd situation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy question is how the **** you get to the point of putting spades in the ground to be derailed by an earthquake fault that was known about in 2015?\u201d<\/p>\n

Health New Zealand said a new business case for MRI options for the eastern Bay community would be completed within the next three months.<\/p>\n

It declined to be interviewed.<\/p>\n

\u2018Wage and workforce competition\u2019<\/p>\n

Staffing may still get in the way of the plans.<\/p>\n

While Health NZ had a new strategy to create a single, nationwide public radiology service, it had fewer than 350 radiologists to work with and increasingly they were spending more time in private clinics, according to workforce surveys. Technicians \u2013 MITs \u2013 were also in hot demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have significant wage and workforce competition from private radiology for MITs that specialise in CT and MRI,\u201d Health NZ said on its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has led to some centres not operating public MRI machines due to workforce shortages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government this month passed a law making it explicit for Health New Zealand to work with private healthcare providers.<\/p>\n

On the public front, Hawke\u2019s Bay Hospital got a $35m-plus radiology upgrade last year.<\/p>\n

On the private, RHCNZ has been targeting growth in \u201cunder-served regions, with plans to expand imaging services into W\u0101naka, Masterton, Palmerston North and Rangiora\u201d, according to Infratil\u2019s annual report. It did 10,000 more scans in 2025-26 than the previous financial year.<\/p>\n

\u2018We … apologise for the inconvenience\u2019<\/p>\n

Last year Whakat\u0101ne protested over a downgrade of the hospital\u2019s obstetrics and gynaecology department because of a lack of staff that forced hundreds of women from the Eastern Bay to travel to Tauranga Hospital to give birth.<\/p>\n

It staged a h\u012bkoi and secondary services were resumed in April 2026. However, a general manager appointed just last year had now resigned.<\/p>\n

Five years back Tauranga had four MRI machines, now it had seven, all private.<\/p>\n

Luca takes a bigger warning from the experience, a warning he and others of the town\u2019s Grey Power advocates made to Health Minister Simeon Brown in a face-to-face meeting last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can say is the present debacle indicates how difficult it is to do public-private partnership and it should be no mystery to anybody in New Zealand,\u201d Luca said.<\/p>\n

He used the Official Information Act to find out that $300,000 was spent a year on ambulances for Whakat\u0101ne MRI patients to go to Tauranga, at just under $500 per trip.<\/p>\n

People who were not admitted as patients had to find their own way.<\/p>\n

The scans themselves cost the taxpayer $1100 each which was relatively cheap for an MRI.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge Dr Victor Luca\u2019s article and his concerns and apologise for the inconvenience caused to patients needing to travel,\u201d Health NZ\u2019s group director of BoP operations Sarah Fenwick said in a statement.<\/p>\n

It currently prioritised patients clinically to ensure those in greatest need were seen as quickly as possible, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always work with patients to ensure they can access the services they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

The action group said it continued to be involved in the push for an MRI.<\/p>\n

Goodhew would believe it when she saw it \u2013 she\u2019s even doubtful the faultline was really the problem Health NZ made it out to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the final excuse, I think, but then they didn\u2019t want to give up any of the parking area for the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a disappointment, and I think some of us suffer from a bit of anger, because why didn\u2019t we get it?<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it profit and loss or what? Why? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

– RNZ<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0This story was first published on rnz.co.nz<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\"RNZ<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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