SEQ hospital to review scans of 9000 patients after ‘systems issue’

A patient with advanced cancer whose scans were not reviewed for five weeks led to the discovery of a systemic issue at a south-east Queensland hospital that may have affected up to 9000 patients.

The patient, who had not been told they had cancer and has since died, presented at Caboolture Hospital after their condition deteriorated.

The hospital has now revealed that up to 9000 patients, many who could also be high-risk, could have been affected by similar errors.

The issue was sparked by an April 2023 change to how medical images were distributed within Caboolture Hospital’s Specialist Outpatient Department.

Queensland’s director-general of health, Dr David Rosengren, said the change led to the possibility that some patients’ results may not have been reviewed by their treating specialist.

He said the problem was first flagged on September 4 this year when the case of the patient with advanced cancer came to light, however Metro North Health Chief Medical Officer Dr Elizabeth Rushbrook said the hospital only became aware of the widespread nature of the “systems issue” last week.

While 9000 patients being affected is considered a worst-case scenario, Rushbrook, who only learnt of the issue yesterday, admitted the number of high-risk patients involved could be in the hundreds.

She said scans are available to doctors both electronically and as hard copies, but in April 2023, hard copies became distributed inconsistently to the outpatient department.

The systems and processes at all Metro North hospitals are now being reviewed, and the hospital is hoping to finish the audit within two weeks.

Rushbrook said surgical, cardiac, respiratory and paediatric patients were affected, and that high-risk patients would be the initial focus of the audit.

She said none of the relevant scans had been lost.

Rosengren said Metro North was establishing a clinical team to review the results in question and contact all patients that could be affected.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the government only learnt of the situation on Monday, and made it clear that any findings would be made public.

“Queenslanders deserve nothing less than that, and we will be asking questions as well, you can be sure,” he said.

The issues at Caboolture came in the same week that an investigation was launched into shortfalls at Townsville University Hospital’s urology services, where it is feared hundreds of patients might have missed out on critical care.

Rosengren said while the issues might appear similar, they could not be treated in the same way.

“The shortfalls in urology services highlighted local and system-wide pressures that required the need for a health service investigation and the establishment of a dedicated statewide urology taskforce,” he said.

“The cause of the issue with medical imaging tests at Caboolture Hospital is clear, and there is currently no indication this extends beyond the Specialist Outpatient Department.”

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