STATE member Paul Toole has upped the ante in the push to get an MRI licence for Bathurst Hospital by turning the pressure on his federal Nationals colleague Andrew Gee.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Toole and Bathurst Health Services Action Group's Warren Aubin joined forces on Monday to call on Mr Gee to ensure the new MRI machine and room to be added at Bathurst Hospital won't cost outpatients hundreds of dollars to use.
"We're not going to let this go," Mr Toole warned.
In response, however, Mr Gee said he fully supports an MRI machine at Bathurst Hospital, the hospital doesn't need a licence to operate the machine and nobody in the city will be "missing out on a Medicare-funded MRI scan" because those who are not patients at Bathurst Hospital will be able to use the existing MRI machine at PRP.
The NSW Government announced almost a year ago that it would provide around $4 million to Bathurst Health Service to add an MRI machine to the hospital.
It followed the Bathurst Health Services Action Group penning an open letter to Mr Toole listing the equipment shortfall the group had identified at the hospital.
That list included an MRI machine.
Mr Toole said on Monday that construction on the MRI room at the hospital is due to start in the next month, but the machine is still without a licence, which can only be issued by the Federal Government.
He said the NSW Government had written to the Federal Government last September about the licence and the request had been denied and further letters had been written to Mr Gee and the Federal Government.
Mr Toole said the latest response he had received had referred him to the National Health Reform Agreements, under which public patients in the hospital will be able to receive MRI services free of charge.
"This, however, does not address or support those outpatients from within the community who are often referred by specialists, GPs, physiotherapists, etc," Mr Toole said. "I have contacted the WNSWLHD [Western NSW Local Health District], who have informed me that this would service around eight to 10 people per day or approximately 2500 residents each year.
"With no MRI licence, they will receive no rebate, may have to travel out of town to get one, and they would be out of pocket by hundreds of dollars."
Orange, Mr Toole said, has two MRI licences provided by the Federal Government "and the one in the Orange Hospital services both inpatients and outpatients, providing a rebate".
Cr Aubin, who has been highly critical of the NSW health administration in the past, had his sights set on Mr Gee on Monday.
"If this [an MRI licence at the hospital] was needed in Orange, then Andrew Gee would deliver the licence in a heartbeat, but he does not seem to have the same commitment to the people of Bathurst," Cr Aubin said.
Cr Aubin said Bathurst's PRP has an MRI licence but is so busy that there are often long waiting periods.
IN OTHER NEWS: Take a chair: CBD boutique is on the market, owner says
In a response to the Advocate, Mr Gee said the federal health minister's office had "confirmed that Bathurst Hospital does not need a Federal licence to buy and operate an MRI machine for its inpatients or outpatients and that all patients will be able to have a scan and have it claimed on Medicare".
"People who are not patients at Bathurst Hospital are able to attend Bathurst's existing MRI machine in Bentinck Street and get the scans fully claimed on Medicare," he said.
"Nobody in Bathurst is missing out on a Medicare-funded MRI scan."
