Patients at Waitemata DHB waiting up to 12 months for heart ultrasounds

Wait times for patients needing a heart ultrasound well below target at North Shore and Waitakere Hospital. Photo / File

Patients at Waitemata District Health Board are waiting up to 12 months to get a heart ultrasound.

Over 1500 patients at the DHB who currently needed this service had not been given a date on the outpatient waiting list, a report that was being discussed at the DHB's Hospital Advisory Committee meeting today revealed.

The report showed that only 48 per cent of patients were being seen within 12 weeks, well below the DHB's 95 per cent target.

All patients were categorised by priority, from one to four.

Priority one patients were scheduled to be seen within two weeks of referral but the current 487 priority two patients on the waiting list without a date were waiting up to four months.

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Of the 1044 priority three routine patients, the average wait was six months and 13 people had been waiting over 12 months for an appointment.

The report said that meeting the target had remained challenging given the number of referrals that the service was currently receiving on a monthly basis.

In response to the high demand, the DHB was in the process of implementing a number of strategies to reduce the waiting time of these patients including a rapid assessment clinic and a patient focused booking system.

"The service is working closely with the Auckland Regional Cardiology Network to understand and assess current demand patterns and to enable more timely access to services and reporting as this is an acknowledged national issue," the report said.

Clinics would be established and further updates with timelines and volumes were being completed.