New Vascular Lab opens at Wellington Hospital

On September 6 Wellington Hospital opened a new vascular lab. The service means hundreds of patients will no longer have to travel to a private clinic for a scan. The in-house vascular lab will also save Capital & Coast DHB $100,000 a year.

Previously 10% of patients needed to have their scans at Wakefield and Southern Cross Hospitals.

Vascular Services Clinical Leader Dilip Naik says patients who had their scans outsourced would be escorted to and from Wellington Hospital in an ambulance or taxi. “For a procedure that normally takes 15-20 minutes, that means it’s a two to four hour ordeal”.

Dr Naik says the scans would be use for patients who had suspected artery or vein blockages – such as people presenting with possible stroke symptoms – and to monitor people with known problems.

The specialist ultrasound equipment will also be used for ‘vein mapping” – identifying where veins were before major surgery such as by-pass operations.

Specialist vascular sonographer Isabel Wright has been hired to run the lab.  Her expertise will be shared with other sonographers helping improve vascular services at Wellington Hospital.   “Vascular scanning is much more pleasant for patients that x-rays, which are invasive and expensive,” says Isabel

“The ultrasound is cheap, it’s efficient, and it’s pleasant as long as you don’t mind having ultrasound goo on you.”

The new lab is in close proximity to the Outpatient department for outpatient scanning and will service about 50 patients a week.