Caboolture Hospital to review medical scans amid concerns about outpatient service

A south-east Queensland hospital is urgently reviewing the scans of thousands of patients which may not ever have been properly assessed by a doctor.

Transcript

00:00Well, this is a pretty shocking discovery.

00:05Now, after questions were put to them by the ABC,

00:08the Metro North Health Unit, which looks after some of the major hospitals

00:12just north of Brisbane and into Moreton Bay,

00:14has said that an error in the processing of their medical imaging,

00:18those scans at Caboolture Hospital,

00:21has led to thousands of scans going totally unchecked by clinicians.

00:26They say that 9,000 patients who were treated in the general surgery,

00:31paediatric, respiratory and cardiac wards of the Caboolture Specialist Unit

00:37may have never had their scans checked by a doctor.

00:40Now, importantly, the hospital says these scans are not lost.

00:43They still have them on the patient files.

00:45They just may never have been looked at.

00:47Now, Gemma, this all kicked off in April of 2023.

00:51The hospital says they were made aware of a change in systems

00:55at that hospital and how those scans were assessed,

00:58and that's led to a gap where no clinicians were undertaking

01:03the normal process of examining those scans.

01:05So, plenty of patients have missed the opportunity

01:08to have their data actually properly looked at by a doctor.

01:12And, Molly, what are the next steps for patients

01:14who think they may have been impacted by this?

01:16Absolutely.

01:17A really pressing question, no doubt, for these 9,000 patients.

01:20The Metro North Health Unit has said that a task force of clinicians

01:25has been dedicated to reassessing each and every one of these scans.

01:30They say that anyone who has been impacted will be contacted directly.

01:34But, in the meantime, a hotline has been set up for anyone

01:37who is concerned that they may be involved in this whole saga

01:40at the Kaboolture Specialist Health Unit.

01:43.