Apex national secretary Dr Deborah Powell, in a statement, said testing on many key diagnostic patient samples collected daily at Gisborne Hospital was delayed by up to 24 hours because, rather than testing the samples in Gisborne’s medical laboratory, they were instead sent to Palmerston North Hospital’s medical laboratory for testing.
Apex is the specialist union for allied, scientific and technical employees in New Zealand, including medical lab workers.
Powell said abnormal haematology blood films were sent to Palmerston North. It could take up to seven days for a result to be confirmed, while results were returned to clinicians on the same day in other hospitals.
It could take up to five days for results from skin, throat and vaginal swabs sent to Palmerston North.
Maximum turnaround times in other privately operated hospital labs were between two and three days, she said.
“The delay is the inevitable result of a privatised lab system incentivised by profit to send samples traversing the North Island’s central plateau – 387km by road, or on an aeroplane relay via Auckland, creating unacceptable delays in diagnostic testing.”
Transportation of patient samples was frequently further delayed because of atmospheric disruption or mechanical unreliability, she said.
A statement from Apex said that a courier van broke down in Taupō in late November. The union said another courier van broke down in Ōpōtiki on December 1, while a plane travelling to Palmerston North remained in Auckland on December 3 because of an atmospheric storm.
“Patients at Gisborne Hospital with life-threatening conditions such as meningitis, leukaemia and antibiotic-resistant infections are having diagnosis delayed as the joint shareholding company of the local medical laboratory announces a $5 million dividend payout to shareholders, the largest in five years,” said Powell.
MedLab Central chief executive Cynric Temple-Camp told the Gisborne Herald that microbiology had been sent out of Gisborne for nine years and “generally there were no problems”.
There were unavoidable occasions when the weather or mechanical issues could cause issues.
Temple-Camp said labs sent specimens “all over the place”, to Canterbury, Auckland and other places.
“This is entirely normal.”
Temple-Camp said all urgent tests were carried out in Gisborne.
What was being sent to other centres was microbiology – a swab, sputum or urine sample.
Gisborne staff looked at and prepared the microbiology. It took 24-72 hours for the samples to grow.
In that time, the samples were transferred to Palmerston North, where specialised equipment was available for testing. By that time, clinicians have already had the initial result.
Temple-Camp said Gisborne Hospital and clinicians were satisfied with the system.
“It all works extremely well.”
The 50-50 partnership at the hospital-based lab meant half of the profits went to Health New Zealand, he said.
Health New Zealand executive regional director Midland region, Cath Cronin, in a statement, said Gisborne Hospital was satisfied with the services provided by TLab (the name of the Gisborne-based medical laboratory run by MedLab).
“Health New Zealand is aware of these delays and has been working with the laboratory provider at Gisborne Hospital to resolve these issues,” Cronin said.
“Patient care is our top priority.
“For the past nine years, microbiology tests have been sent to Palmerston North twice a day. Initial sample analysis is performed in TLab, with further processing performed in Palmerston North using sophisticated Malditof technology.
“Microbiology testing was shifted to ensure reliable and safe service provision because recruitment and retention of scarce laboratory staff in Tairāwhiti was not assured.”
Health NZ contracted three private providers to deliver community and hospital-referred diagnostic testing around New Zealand, said Cronin.
