43,000 scans sit unread at Gold Coast University Hospital

Tens of thousands of scans remain unreported at Gold Coast University Hospital, despite a Queensland government promise they would be cleared by last month.

Tens of thousands of scans, including MRIs and CT images, are unreported at one of the state’s biggest hospitals – despite Queensland Health committing to clearing the backlog by October.

As of last Tuesday, there were 43,000 unprocessed scans at the Gold Coast University Hospital.

Gold Coast Health has blamed technical challenges associated with private companies for not delivering their promise and insists there continues to be insufficient capacity in the sector to deal more quickly with the backlog.

Following The Courier-Mail’s exclusive report in July revealing that GCUH was sitting on 54,836 unreported scans, Gold Coast Health confirmed the backlog would be cleared in three months.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman. Picture: Patrick Woods

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman called the huge queue of unread scans as “unacceptable”.

Australian Medical Association Queensland president Maria Boulton called for an urgent investigation into the long delays and urged a focus on radiology funding and workforce.

Dr Boulton said that delays in reading scans could cause lives and doctors had lost faith in the public system and were referring patients to private providers.

The huge logjam at the GCUH was revealed by clinicians who were worried about cancers or serious conditions being missed.

The shortage of radiologists continues to be a problem, with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists appealing for more junior doctors to consider a career in the speciality.

“We want more medical students at the start of their career to consider choosing the

medical imaging sector, which is so vital for healthcare across Australia, New Zealand,

and the world,” RANZCR president, Associate Professor Sanjay Jeganathan, said.

Australian Medical Association Queensland president Maria Boulton. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

“It takes five years of study to graduate in radiology.”

A Gold Coast Health spokesman said it continued to partner with private-sector providers to clear the medical imaging backlog.

“No financial constraints have been placed on the utilisation of private sector providers,” the spokesman said.

“The backlog of medical images (including plain film X-ray, MRI, CT, ultrasound, and other modalities) has been reduced to 20,817.

“There are an additional 23,497 medical images taken since late July 2023 that are currently in the queue also awaiting reporting.

“It is important to note that all images have already been seen and acted on by the treating doctor.

“There is insufficient capacity in the sector to deal more quickly with the queue.

“We continue to ensure the most significant diagnostic results are being addressed first and that the backlog is steadily cleared.”