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Miniature cameras fitted inside pills and swallowed by patients are saving lives, money and staff time at Middlemore Hospital, a specialist says.
But the pills and their respective equipment had to be purchased using donations, as all the Auckland-based health boards had declined to invest in the technology.
The pill-cam, used to show doctors the cause of intestinal bleeding, has been the internationally accepted industry standard for such diagnoses for the last seven years, Counties Manukau District Health Board gastroenterologist Dr Alasdair Patrick told the Herald.
Without the pill-cam, doctors could see about one metre from the top of the digestive system, and a metre from the bottom, he said.
"But the advantage of this technology is you see the four or five metres in the middle."
Often patients with bleeding in that section of the gut would be given blood transfusions, without the specifics of their condition being known.
That meant a lot of blood was used, and many of those patients were back in a year with the same complaint, he said.
Conditions identified by the pill-cam included small-bowel cancers, lymphomas, blood vessel bleeds and internal melanomas. The conditions could usually be treated if caught early enough, he said.
"But you catch them much later if you don't have this technology. If you're catching these, even just blood vessels that are bleeding, you can save lives."
After working in London and Singapore for three years, Dr Patrick was surprised not to find the technology in Auckland's public hospitals, despite carrying a $50,000 price tag.
The new pill-cam system had been bought using money raised by the South Auckland Health Fund. Since it was introduced in December last year, 13 patients had used it, Dr Patrick said.
The private health facility Auckland Gastroenterology Associates, at the Mercy Specialist Centre in Epsom, purchased the technology several years ago, and it had been used to do public work. But the demand for the technology was far greater than what was contracted out privately.
Counties Manukau health board spokeswoman Lauren Young said the board had to constantly weigh up what it could afford.
Auckland District Health Board adult health services general manager Margaret Dotchin said the board made sure every person needing a pill-cam endoscopy received the treatment they required.
Waitemata health board spokeswoman Bryony Hilless said the pill-cam technology hadn't been evaluated by the board or been identified as a priority.
"The number of patients who would benefit from this technology is small, and they currently have access to this machine via the private sector on an as-needed basis," she said.
"This is currently the most economically sensible option for the district health board, pending a full evaluation."
But Dr Patrick said a study at Middlemore Hospital five years ago concluded that it would be cost-effective to buy the technology.
"For many years it has been known that it is cost effective to do a pill-cam. It's much cheaper overall to find the diagnosis and fix the problem."
