Community-led advocacy group Health Action Wānaka (HAW) is calling on Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti to give the Southern region access to faster and free radiology services.

The minister recently announced a $30M funding boost to give people free access to radiology services when referred directly by their general practitioner. 

The boost would pay private providers to do scans, reducing the need for people living in rural areas to travel to a public hospital to access publicly funded radiology services.

The first areas to benefit from the funding are Wellington and the Hutt Valley and the minister said these areas would be followed by other districts with poor access to radiology services.

HAW chair Monique Mayze said the Upper Clutha area in particular had poor access to radiology services.

“We’ve heard stories of people who live in Wānaka travelling more than three hours for a ten-minute appointment with a specialist in Dunedin to get a referral for diagnostic imaging,” she said, adding that locals often have to take time off work and stay overnight in Dunedin or Invercargill simply to see a specialist for a referral.

HAW members Lucy Middendorf, Monique Mayze, and Heather Clay. PHOTO: Wānaka App

“Allowing GPs to refer patients directly for a wider range of diagnostic imaging would reduce the need for people to travel,” Monique said.

“We all know that early diagnosis is critical in achieving optimal health outcomes so it’s essential that people in our community are able to get timely access to diagnostic tools and specialist

assessments.”

Monique said the removal of co-payments would be welcomed by people living in the Upper Clutha who already pay more for radiology services “due to Pacific Radiology’s dominance of the market”.

“Our group did a price comparison of radiology services and discovered that people in Wānaka, Queenstown and Dunedin pay $375 for a shoulder ultrasound in the private system while the same service costs $310 when delivered by Beyond Radiology in Christchurch,” she said.

“Having access to the government’s new funding for radiology services would go a long way to reducing the strain on our community.”

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In 2022 Wānaka Lakes Health Centre moved two relocatable, prefabricated radiology buildings to the rear of the building to extend the range of radiology services offered.

Pacific Radiology Otago Southland regional manager Paul Morrison told the Wānaka App that Wānaka was a “growth area”.