Workforce key to radiology backlog

Doctors on the Gold Coast are concerned about the backlog of imaging requests and frustrated that the lessons of 2016 have not been learnt.

Queensland Health has confirmed 54,000 scans are waiting to be analysed at Gold Coast University Hospital and the backlog will take two to three months to clear.

AMA Queensland President Dr Maria Boulton has called for an investigation, saying doctors’ concerns have not been heeded.

“These are not new issues,” Dr Boulton told 4BC. “These are issues that they’ve spoken up about before and haven’t been adequately addressed.

“Some are so concerned that if they need a patient to have a scan quickly and have that report back quickly, they sometimes refer those patients to the private radiology institutions outside the hospital to get that service done.

“Doctors are becoming very disenfranchised because these are concerns they keep raising and nothing happens. The Gold Coast University Hospital was investigated over a similar issue in 2016 and it seems they’re back to that same spot now, and it’s the patients that suffer.”

Workforce is the No.1 issue for the healthcare system, and determining where the shortages are and how they can be filled is key, Dr Boulton said.

“This is just another reason why we need a strategy for the entire Queensland healthcare workforce,” she said.

“We have seven new satellite hospitals, all with imaging capacity but no extra staff.

“This is not just a Queensland problem – it is an Australia-wide problem that was predicted back in 2017.

“These workforce shortages aren’t limited to imaging departments which comprise of radiologists, radiographers, sonographers, nurses and other healthcare workers. They are across all medical specialties, and all areas of the health workforce.

“The World Health Organisation has predicted a global shortfall of 15 million health workers by 2030 and we need to find a way to fill our workforce. Queensland Health must also work on retaining its current healthcare workers and address the cultural, leadership and workforce issues that exist.”

Dr Boulton said it was concerning that the backlog might delay serious diagnoses.

“That's the concern and that's why doctors have been calling for action,” she told ABC Gold Coast.

“They're extremely worried that patient care might be compromised because of this. And certainly I expect that patients would be worried too.

“Whenever a doctor orders imaging, it's because it helps us with diagnosis. It's not something we do lightly.”