No. 26

ADDITIONAL MRI MACHINE FOR THE CANBERRA HOSPITAL

Minister for Health Katy Gallagher has announced in this year’s Budget the purchase of a second Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine for The Canberra Hospital.

Ms Gallagher said the operation of a second MRI machine would allow The Canberra Hospital to provide increased services to outpatients and shorten waiting lists for MRI.  

“Currently there is a waiting list of four to six weeks for MRI scans,” she said.

“The second MRI will provide a significant increase in capacity allowing an extra 10 to 15 scans a day, or up to 3000 scans per year, substantially improving access to MRI scans and reducing the waiting periods.”

Ms Gallagher said the purchase of a second MRI was also a key strategic opportunity for the ACT to set itself up for the future in terms of research and the training of health professionals.

“To attract and retain clinical leaders we need to be able to provide high level research support and this machine is a fundamental tool to doing this,” she said. 

“It will increase ACT Health’s ability to recruit and retain these valuable staff. It will also provide support to the very high level research work currently underway in the ACT.” 

Ms Gallagher said that the increased demand had been driven by population growth and changes in clinical practices that were reliant on imaging for diagnosis. 

“This demand has not been able to be fully met due to the lack of imaging facilities in the ACT,” she said.

“Investment in equipment, along with the replacement of the current Radiology Information System scheduled for this financial year, will provide the basis for an imaging service to meet this demand and provide new revenue sources for The Canberra Hospital.”

The purchase of a second MRI supports the “Building a Healthy Community” initiative of improving access for all ACT residents, by enabling the more efficient use of clinical time and equipment in Medical Imaging, resulting in more patients being seen in the department.