X-rays down, but not out

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 453, 15 September 1992, Page 1

X-rays down, but not out

Waimarino is still without an x-ray service, which means patients must travel to either Taihape, Taumarunui or Wanganui for x-rays. This can mean a double trip for some patients who have to later visit a specialist, also out of the area. The two-days-a-week service ceased more than five weeks ago, because of changes to the personal situation of the radiographer. Dr Jim Corbett said the lack of a service was detrimental to health services in the area. "There's nothing wrong with the equipment - it's old but we've used it before," he said. "I believe it is a management problem." He said the lack of a local x-ray service was affecting his practice, because simple treatments that local GPs would normally handle are taken out of the area when people have to travel for x-rays. "An x-ray service is a vital part of modern medical treatment." "I fear that this is part of the board

slowly withdrawing their services - they could be creating a reason for withdrawing it." But health board management say it is not a planned lack of service and that there is no intention to take away the service permanently. "The service will not stop - that's the message to your readers," community health manager Kim Gosman told the Bulletin yesterday. Wanganui Base Hospital manager Bob Davies told the Bulletin that management have been trying to employ a replacement radiographer for the Waimarino service. "This is not a permanent thing - we're very keen to get the service up and running again as soon as possible," said Mr Davies. "This couldn't have happened at a worse time of the year, being in the peak of the ski season." "But radiographers don't grow on trees," he said. "We've advertised vacancies in the board's area widely but had little response." He said they have had to bring in

radiographers from overseas. Mrs Gosman said they had looked for help from Wanganui, but their radiography department was already under staffed. Taumarunui Hospital was another option but they were already committed to helping outlying services in their own area. Mr Davies said part of the problem has been with the equipment, which is very old. Development is done by hand and younger radiographers don't have the experience to operate the system unsupervised. Mrs Gosman said a meeting between technical staff and health and safety staff was to be held today (Tuesday) to discuss a health and safety report on the x-ray equipment at Waimarino. She said it was recommended that automatic processing equipment be installed, at a cost of $12,000. To upgrade the whole system with the film processor and modern but secondhand x-ray equipment would cost between $30,000 and $40,000. However this upgrade would not be possible under present budget constraints, said Mrs Gosman.