In October, then crown monitor Dr Andrew Connolly was appointed to chair an Endoscopy User Group to implement recommendations to improve the board s colonoscopy services. In the same meeting, he told the board: “Category C shouldn’t exist. I’m not simply going to referee a group of people arguing about whether a patient is category A, B, or C.” On Monday, Connolly, who is now the chief medical officer for the Ministry of Health and a clinical advisor to the Southern DHB, said removing the category was simply a matter of bureaucracy. There had been a blanket ban on putting patients with symptoms on the category C waiting list since October, he said, but some patients had ended up on the list after a “scrap” over waiting list definitions, he said.
Mercy Hospital chief executive Richard Whitney says private healthcare providers in Otago and Southland do not have radiation treatment machines to help a backlog of patients waiting to start cancer treatment.
After seeing a private neurologist in March, Maere now knows he has middle-ear dysfunction, doesn’t require medication, and is going through the process of having his licence reinstated. The Southern District Health Board declined to comment on Maere s case because of privacy reasons, despite him signing a privacy waiver. However, general manager of the board s medicine, women’s and children directorate Simon Donlevy did respond to
Stuff s query about the number of neurologists working at Southland Hospital. The board employed five neurologists, he said, all of whom were based in Dunedin but visited Southland Hospital on a weekly basis.
“I’m stuck in limbo,” McCoy said. “The hospital don’t want to know about me. ACC don’t want to know about me. I need help. Where do I go?” The doctor who declined McCoy s neurology referral suggested he seek an assessment in the private sector. Southern DHB General manager of the medicine, women’s and children directorate Simon Donlevy said the board could only provide a diagnosis and treatment based on the presenting symptoms, any relevant investigations and the medical history of the patient. “In doing so we cannot take into account any discussions that may be occurring between ACC (or indeed any other agency) and the patient; these must be resolved between those parties,” he said.