Radiologists to review 22,000 tests done at public hospitals as health officials launch investigation into lapse
An investigation is under way after revelations almost 50,000 x-rays taken at public hospitals on the Gold Coast have not been properly checked.
The investigation will examine what Queensland’s health minister, Lawrence Springborg, has called a long-running failure of a system designed to pick up undiagnosed medical conditions.
The Gold Coast hospital and health service board says it is aware of at least two patients who suffered adverse effects as a result of the failure. It said it was aware there were problems with the checking procedures but the extent of it had not become clear until late last week.
About 22,000 x-rays have been earmarked for priority review.
In Queensland, all x-rays are required to be doublechecked by radiologists. The process is intended to confirm a treating doctor’s diagnosis, such as a broken bone, for example.
But it is also intended as a safety net, with radiologists tasked with looking for other signs of illness beyond the condition for which the tests were ordered.
The board’s patient safety spokeswoman, Colette McCool, said board members were aware there was a problem with the process and had ordered a report on the matter. But the scope of the problem, and the huge backlog of tests not properly checked, had come as a shock.
“We’d been advised that it was an issue over the last six months or so, but the magnitude of it wasn’t realised until last Thursday,” she told reporters on Monday.
The board’s chief executive, Ron Calvert, said previous efforts to fix the problem had failed. “Our efforts to remedy the situation have stumbled,” he said. “We make mistakes. It happens.
“Our job is to make sure when we make these mistakes we are open and transparent about it and we learn from it and improve.”