CT Scanner Receives Ministry Funding

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) announced recently that the Middlesex Hospital Alliance (MHA) will receive one time Wait Time Strategy (WTS) funding of 165 hours to assist in reducing the waiting list for patients requiring a Computed Tomography (CT) Scan in Ontario.

"It's been just about one year since we began operating this new state-of-the art 64-slice scanning unit," Jim Herbert, Manager of MHA Digital Imaging says. "When we opened the CT suite, we wanted particularly to have the capability to scan heads 24/7 because in the case of a suspected stroke, for example, rapid diagnosis through CT Scan can make a significant difference. To do this, our technologists required extensive training."

The CT scanner suite is located at Strathroy site, although the unit is owned jointly by Four Counties Health Services (FCHS) and Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital (SMGH) so that doctors at both sites have full and equal access.

In this first year of operation, approximately 3,700 patients have had CT scans. The number of projected CT scans for the coming year is expected to reach between 4,200 and 4,500. "The opening of this diagnostic capacity in the MHA has resulted in shorter lengths of stay for inpatients and provided much needed access to CT technology on an outpatient basis for people living in the surrounding area," Dr. Ian Ferguson, Chief of Surgery at SMGH, says.

CT is the standard of care for many common conditions. CT can quickly and accurately help in diagnosing illness or injury such as cancer, injuries to abdominal organs, brain damage or skull fractures from head injuries, blood clots or bleeding after stroke, Dr. Jon Dreyer, Chief of Staff at Four Counties Health Services (FCHS), says. Prior to the scanner being installed last spring, patients had to wait between 8-20 weeks to receive a scan and also had to travel, sometimes by ambulance, to other health centres. Now scans are performed conveniently in Strathroy, providing a much quicker diagnosis and treatment for patients.

CT Scan is particularly important technology for trauma patients, who can be scanned on site, for almost immediate diagnosis. A key to our success is that our hospital partners with the London X-Ray Associates - a radiology group that provides service to a number of Thames Valley Hospitals including St. Joseph's Health Care and Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital to read and interpret CT Scans. A radiologist is on site five days a week and they are also on call 24/7 to interpret scans that are done "off hours."

With the Ministry's announcement of wait time hours, MHA now has the opportunity to work with the region to decrease the area's wait time for CT. "We are in now in the process of letting London and area physicians and hospitals know that MHA is available to book their CT patients as long as we have wait funded hours available and the bookings don't conflict with our own physician's CT bookings," Herbert says.

Additionally, the MHA Diagnostic Imaging department has an agreement with Children's Hospital to send our CT pediatric patients to them for processing. "They are especially trained in pediatric CT scans," Dr. Ferner, Chief of Staff at SMGH, says.

There has been some recent public concern about radiation doses from CT Scans - especially in children. To see how the MHA equipment compared with other scanners in Ontario, MHA had an independent company, XRCT Limited, of Brampton Ontario, complete a baseline radiation dosage report. The results were very positive. "Our 64-slice GE CT scanner produces dosages for our patients well below the average for hospitals in Ontario, for both head and abdomen scans," Bill Dawson, Chief of Radiology, says.

Connecting with the Future of Care

CT Scanner Receives Ministry Funding