Canberra Liberals MLA Leanne Castley, Shadow Minister for Health, will call on the ACT Government to explain why it has not met its completion targets for medical imaging machines and to fast-track current medical imaging infrastructure projects.

Ms Castley said the government had failed to upgrade ageing medical imaging devices over the last decade; doing so would have improved the quality and efficiency of imaging, and saved the Canberra Hospital lost revenue from Medicare Benefit Schedule subsidies. 

“The Department of Health and Aged Care has clear capital sensitivity guidelines to ensure that diagnostic imaging equipment is regularly upgraded and replaced, so that patients have the highest possible quality services,” Ms Castley said.

“Despite the Health Minister [Rachel Stephen-Smith] recently spruiking a new MRI machine [earlier this] month, there were 14 diagnostic imaging devices past the manufacturers’ end-of-life period and two that no longer had full access to the Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) due to their age.

“Medical imaging machines provide crucial diagnosis of cancers [and] chronic diseases as well as neurological diseases.

“Upgrading these machines allows patients and staff to obtain faster, more detailed images. This reduces the need for multiple scans, can reduce wait times for all patients at our public hospital, and ensures our diagnostic imaging devices receive full access to the MBS.

“Instead, the Minister has failed to upgrade these machines, which has resulted in lengthy repair times, thousands of outpatients stuck on lengthy waitlists to receive crucial medical imaging, and a loss of at least $100,000 dollars in MBS revenue.”

Ms Castley said it was insulting to patients and frontline health staff that the government announced in 2019 it would install a new MRI machine in the Canberra Hospital by March 2021 but had failed to deliver it until September 2023.

“It is disgraceful that the Health Minister has sat by and watched Canberra Health Services’ fleet of medical imaging machines literally reach breaking point before finally taking action.

“I am calling on the government to come clean to patients and frontline staff on why they have failed to meet their own timeframes.

“I am also calling on the government to fast track the upgrade of our ageing diagnostic imaging fleet.

“Canberrans just want their hospitals to be safe, wait lists to be short, and promised infrastructure to be delivered in full and on schedule.”