• diagnose disease states, such as gallstones, pneumonia 
• show the extent of injury to body structures
• to aid in interventional procedures, such as biopsies.

• Reception and Clerical Staff - process all requests,book  examinations, answer all telephone queries and liaise with MRTs and radiologists
• Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs) or Radiographers perform your X-ray, Barium, Mammography, CT and MR examinations
• Nurses- assist with Interventional procedures and monitor patients while in Radiology. 
• Sonographers - MRTs specifcally trained to perform your ultrasound examinations.
• Radiologists  -Specialist Doctors who read and interpret your films or scans and issue a report for your referring doctor. They will also be directly involved with you in performing the examination if you have an interventional procedure, barium study,  a number of ultrasound procedures and other more complex studies.  They interpret the results of the images and send them to your doctor.

Both Inpatients and Outpatients need to be referred by a doctor to have a radiological procedure carried out (some referrals are accepted from other Health Professionals for limited specific examinations and by prior approval with the Head of Department). 

Referrals from hospital doctors should  be made electronically and paper referrals are required from all GPs. 

Almost all Outpatient and GP referrals will be booked for a future appointment with appointment details and any preparation instructions posted to you at home up to 2 weeks before your appointment time. It is important you telephone us if you are not going to be able to make the appointment offered, or if you no longer require the procedure you were referred for.

Your request will be assessed and prioritised  by a Senior MRT or Consultant Radiologist based on the information supplied by your referring Doctor. The waiting list times vary depending on the type of procedure  and the clinical urgency. Our resources are limited both by machine and staff availabilty. The largest waiting list is for Outpatient Ultrasound examinations at both hospitals and non-urgent scans may not be done for 6-8 weeks from the time of receiving the request.

Urgent cases will be mostly done as soon as required and your doctor has been encouraged  to phone the department to discuss these cases.

All your images are now taken in a digital format and are stored on our hospital PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System). The images can  be reviewed by your doctor on a computer at any of the Auckland region hospitals. The images can be made available to take elsewhere on a CD or film, however there will be a charge for film copies when required (please see " Charges" below)

There are no charges for Imaging procedures for public patients, if you are lawfully in New Zealand and meet one of the Eligibility Directions specified criteria set by the Ministry of Health.

If you do not meet the criteria, you will be required to pay for the full costs of any medical treatment you receive during your stay.

To check whether you meet the specified eligibility criteria, visit the Ministry of Health website.

Current (October 2010) pricing (GST included) for Radiology procedures:

• X-ray-general - $118.66
• Ultrasound - $204.99
• Mammogram - $290.18
• Fluroscopy - $406.33
• CT Scan - $833.18
• MRI Scan - $1180.94

For supplying all patients with film copies of thier digital images a fee will also be charged.  The price depends on the examination and number of film sheets - for plain X-rays the approximate charge is $37.

No cost is incurred for CD copies of images.

ACCREDITATION

Waitemata District Health Board's Radiology Service has continually met the accreditation standards of International accreditation New Zealand.   The initial accreditation was achieved in 1997.  IANZ conducts annual surveillance assessments to ensure that the expected standards are being met.   

GENERAL INFORMATION

For more information on Radiology procedures please go to http://www.radiologyinfo.org/