PATIENTS can wait three months for an MRI scan in northern Melbourne, while those in the south often wait just 10 days.
THE average waiting time for MRI and CT scans in north and west Melbourne was 60 days, more than double that of the south, an auditor-general’s report shows.
“It is concerning that one hospital can have a wait list of up to 98 days for an MR scan while the waiting time in a hospital less than 10km away is only two days,” said the report, released on Wednesday. Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the Department of Health and Human Services would centralise oversight of the medical imaging system in Victoria. “It’s simply not fair to have a system where in one part of Melbourne you wait up to three months to get access to a scan, but in other parts of Melbourne you are only waiting up to 10 days,” she told reporters. The auditor-general found public CT and MR scanners were not being managed economically, efficiently or effectively across Victoria. The report also said most public hospitals were not factoring in future demand when they decided to replace or buy imaging equipment. Another auditor-general’s report found 12 hospitals had just enough cash to last a week or less at June 30 last year, down from 23 at the same point in 2013. Ms Hennessy said hospitals should be breaking even. “They’re funded through a budget year to year,” she said. “So it’s not entirely surprising that as they head towards year end that their budgets would be almost concluding.” DHHS secretary Pradeep Philip told the auditor-general hospital finances were trending up. “It should be noted that the financial result of a surplus of $235 million is a significant improvement on the $4 million deficit in 2012/13 and the $43 million deficit in 2011/12,” Dr Pradeep said. The auditor-general said despite the overall financial results, more than two-thirds of public hospitals had a poor capital replacement risk, meaning many hospitals were not replacing assets as they deteriorated. “This means that services may be at risk in the future due to assets becoming obsolete,” the report said.