Auckland DHB statement on colonoscopy waiting times

Please see below some information and following that our comment.

• 550 colonoscopies are under the outsourcing contract – 381 have been completed so far, and the rest should be completed by end of this month (September).
• There are currently 27 P1 patients, 506 P2 patients and 355 surveillance patients on our colonoscopy waiting list
• We won’t have a confirmed start date for our commencement with the National Bowel Screening Programme until the Ministry of Health has undertaken a readiness assessment in September.

The following comment can be attributed to Auckland DHB Director of Adult Medical Dr Barry Snow:

We are meeting the Ministry of Health national waiting time indicators for colonoscopies for P (priority) 1 patients, where 90 per cent are seen patients are seen within 14 days of referral, as well as the target for patients requiring surveillance testing, where 70 per cent of patients are seen within 84 days of the agreed timeframe for their next scan.

We are dedicated to meeting the target for P2 patients, where 70 per cent of patients are seen within 42 days of referral.

There are a number of factors that are affecting our target result for P2 wait times for colonoscopies. We are experiencing increased demand due to the northern region’s rapidly growing and ageing population, as outlined in the Northern Region Long Term Investment Plan. Each year, we carry out colonoscopies for more than 3500 patients, along with other procedures such as gastroscopies, and demand continues to grow.

We are yet to see the full effect of the alert level restrictions that were put in place due to COVID-19, but it is likely these will also have had an impact on wait times.

Our wait list is carefully monitored and patients are prioritised according to clinical need.

We have put in place a number of initiatives to help reduce wait times. These include improved booking and scheduling processes, as well as outsourcing to private providers. We are already seeing improvement. During the past four weeks, there has been an increase of approximately 20 per cent more surveillance patients being seen within 84 days of the agreed timeframe for their next scan, when compared to the four week period prior.

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