Scone Needs CT for Emergencies

By Taylah Fellows

HOSPITALS in Scone, Singleton and Muswellbrook do not have access to CT scans after hours.

Stephen Ward and his wife Tracy know all too well the real-life consequences of not having a CT scan available in the Upper Hunter after Stephen suffered a stroke in 2013.

The couple waited an hour and a half to be transported by helicopter to the nearest hospital with an available CT scan however; Mr Ward didn’t receive the CT scan until six hours had passed.

The time waited could have been used to scan Mr Ward and send the CT images to the Stroke team at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.

“The neurologist could have viewed the scans while he was on his way and know what they had to do the second he arrived at the hospital,” Mrs Ward said.

“If you have a stroke here on a Saturday afternoon or Friday at 7 o’clock at night you have to wait until you get to John Hunter Hospital before they can do any diagnostics, because Muswellbrook hospital does not have a CT machine and the nearest are in Tamworth or Newcastle,” she said.

Lee Watts, Stephen Ward and Tracey Ward want CT scans in local hospitals.

Lee Watts, Upper Hunter candidate for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, met with Tracy and Stephen and said she will fight for access to after hours CT scans so that other people don’t have to endure the same scenario.

“There are CT machines in our major towns, but they are all in private practices; so NSW Health should pay for private machines to be used for emergencies,” she said.

“The longer they take to act on this, the more people are at risk in our community. Doctors are in private practices but on call for hospitals for emergencies, so why not the CT scans that are already sitting in town?”

“They do the same thing with doctors, here they are in private practices but on call for hospitals for emergencies, so why not the CT scans that are already sitting in town?” she questioned.

Ms Watts also stressed the potential economic benefits of an investment in a local CT machines.

“I’d actually like to see the business case for how much money the health system is spending on local ambulances driving patients to Newcastle, Maitland and Tamworth for CT scans,” she said.

“There would definitely be justification for spending that money on a machine in this electorate and keeping our ambulances free to respond to other emergencies,” Lee Watts said.