The hospital adds a second scanner

A new scanner at the North Bay Regional Health Center will help reduce wait times and provide patients with advanced care.

The new state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging tool, which will be operational on Monday, uses lower radiation doses and delivers faster and better image quality than previous generation technology.

The new machine should also reduce the risk of testing outside the community and allow the hospital to increase cancer screening and perform more procedures, including biopsies.

"The discovery of cancer and the biopsy of cancer are two of the great things we can use this new technology, "said radiologist Jeff Hodge during the presentation of the new scanner on Friday. "It's a faster machine that allows us to acquire better images faster."

He added that the hospital would now have two operational CT scanners, which will not only increase capacity, but will provide 24/7 care when one of the machines is out of service. A scanner should be more dedicated to inpatients and emergencies. While the other will focus on ambulatory patients and procedures.

The new scanner comes through a $ 2 million community fundraiser, covering the machine purchase and additional operating costs.

"CT scans are hospital workers, "Hodge said, pointing to his joint test for inpatients and outpatients.

With a single scanner, he explained, trying to schedule tests for emergencies and hospitalizations of already-hospitalized patients already scheduled created a backlog. During rush hours last winter, Hodge had announced waiting times of up to three or four months for non-urgent patients. And he said that a second machine would go a long way to achieving the provincial standard of one month.

"We are still trying to solve this problem, "she said.

With the second CT scanner, the hospital is expected to make 3,000 additional visits a year for a total of more than 20,000 scans in the first year. The machine also paves the way for increased future capacity.