Delayed Diagnostics For Patients At Gisborne Hospital As Lab Owner Takes Out Another $5 Million In Profits

Strike action by laboratory staff at Gisborne Hospital has highlighted systematic inequality in access to diagnostic laboratory testing for patients in the Tairāwhiti region.

APEX, the union which represents medical laboratory professionals, says the situation is unsustainable and unfair and is calling for Te Whatu Ora to step in and assure equity for Gisborne Hospital patients.

The medical laboratory at Gisborne Hospital, known as TLab, is a 50/50 public-private partnership between Te Whatu Ora and Medlab Central, a subsidiary of Australian based global corporation Sonic Healthcare.

“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 Dr Deborah Powell, APEX National Secretary.

Delays to Key Diagnostic Tests for Gisborne Hospital Patients

Testing on many key diagnostic patient samples collected daily at Gisborne Hospital are delayed by up to 24 hours because rather than testing the samples in Gisborne’s medical laboratory, they are instead sent to Palmerston North Hospital’s medical laboratory for testing.

“The delay is the inevitable result of a privatised lab system incentivised by profit to send samples traversing the North Island’s central plateau - 387 kilometres by road, or on an aeroplane relay via Auckland, creating unacceptable delays in diagnostic testing,” continued Dr Powell.

Transportation of patient samples is frequently further delayed because of atmospheric disruption or mechanical unreliability including in the last three weeks:

• Late November - Courier van broke down in Taupo. Medlab sent a driver up from Palmerston North to collect the samples bin the next day. It is unknown whether specimens were refrigerated overnight or were allowed to degrade at van temperature.
• 1 December – Samples bin sent at 4pm via Opotiki/Taupo as usual. Courier van broke down in Opotiki. Samples bin returned to Gisborne next day and dropped at Gisborne Fisheries. Bin put in cool store and sent away again that night.
• 3 December – Plane to Palmerston North was stuck in Auckland overnight due to atmospheric storm. This samples bin contained urgent specimens including positive Blood Cultures and Cerebrospinal Fluids (CSF) test results which were for critically unwell patients and resulted in a further 24-hour delay to test results.

Gisborne Patients Waiting Days Longer than in Other Hospitals for Results

Even when transportation runs smoothly, the time it takes for Gisborne laboratory to turn around time critical diagnostic tests is some of the slowest in the country.

“As a result of industrial action currently taking place at both Gisborne and Palmerston North’s medical laboratories, we became aware that the expected turnaround times for patients at Gisborne Hospital is significantly out of step with the rest of New Zealand.”

“We do not agree it is ok for multinational corporations to be profiteering at the expense of the country’s lowest paid medical laboratory staff and equity of health care to the people of Gisborne,” concluded Dr Powell.

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