Discussions

How is it possible that the second largest center in MB has a hospital with 1 working X-ray room out of 4 and a CT scanner that is “broken” as well. So nice to show up go through Covid screening and then get turned away. Who is in charge ? Shared health or Prarie mountain health. Time to spend some money, and I mean on equipment not glorified managerial positions

While it's absolutely an issue that screening isn't available when needed, is it possible that they are short-staffed and that's why only 1 xray room was up and running? Are all 4 rooms typically up and running? I've had quite a bit of imaging over the years and I have NEVER seen more than 1 or 2 rooms in use at once.  
 
How long has the CT scanner been "broken"? I doubt there are local techs and are at the mercy of having someone coming in from possibly out-of-province (but Winnipeg at the very least). Parts are also extremely hard to obtain for lots of high-tech stuff right now.  
 
I highly doubt they would allow expensive and important pieces of equipment simply sit idle unless there were reasons beyond their control, such as staffing and supply chain.

Staffing isn’t the issue. Like all healthcare departments they are short staffed but patients aren’t turned away due to this. There is 1 X-ray machine working.

Well considering it took 3 months to get a part for an elevator I can’t foresee it being a quick fix for something as complex as the X-ray machines

No matter how much money is spent on a piece of equipment, there will be times it is 'down' for repair and/or maintenance. Nobody likes when equipment is down - patients, schedulers, techs, radiologists, etc. It is a huge disruption to services, not just for you, but for everyone involved.

I understand breakdowns such as the CT scanner But half of the x ray equipment is so outdated it can’t even be fixed anymore. I would just like for people to tell me who is responsible to have proper equipment in place so Brandon and surrounding areas can get the treatments they require.

Everyone defends healthcare cause it’s “free”. No, it is just poorly managed, and it is far from free.

I'm wondering if anyone here knows what kind of equipment we have here in the hospital, how old it is and what the normal life expectancy would be,  
 
It's not good that services here aren't always what we want them to be, but are we dealing with truly outdated equipment or is it just that service and parts are hard to come by, just as it is with nearly every type of equipment used in all walks of life these days. I also wonder if replacement equipment could come any faster than repairs.  
 
Edited by fargobob, 2022-02-27 18:47:23

Not entirely sure but have heard “end of life” for 2 of the x ray rooms. 1 of which was almost 5 years ago.  
Maybe someone from the media could ask hospital management so we all knew the answers. Maybe it’s available online somewhere being a public service ? I know it’s a whole separate conversation but maybe private health care like the US is a better option. It’s ran as a business being much more efficient.

That is a huge leap - from second-hand information about the age of diagnostic imaging machines to advocating for US-style health care.  
 
Just so you're aware:  
 
1) US healthcare costs the US taxpayer more money, per capita, than Canadian healthcare. This doesn't even factor in the insurance and out-of-pocket payments. US healthcare is a prime example of inefficiency.  
 
2) Health outcomes in the US are worse on a range of measures, compared to Canada.  
 
3) A significant proportion of health care services in Canada already are private - it just so happens that the fees are covered by provincial health insurance plans.  
 
Canada's provincial healthcare systems are certainly not as good as they could be - but the path to improving them does not lie in the US system.  
 
Edited by JosephC, 2022-02-28 06:57:50

The US healthcare system is not efficiently run. A system like that generally provides healthcare for the wealthy while those less well off suffer through lack of access to healthcare providers and lack of treatment options. Such a system in Canada would cause a significant decline in the health and well being of most Canadians.

Ok, said that was a separate conversation. How do we get what we have back on track. Broken outdated equipment and 6 month waits for an MRI are not acceptable with the resources paid by taxes. I don’t think throwing more money at the problem makes it go away. There has to be higher level issues

Everyone’s experience is different but my wife had an MRI scan in Brandon yesterday (Sunday) . She waited about 6 weeks after referral and we arrived 30 minutes early as per instructions. She was done and out of the hospital before her appointment time. Can’t get much better healthcare than that.

We will be sending patients to great expense to the states for surgery.  
 
X-ray can be done at a private clinic. Why not all the other diagnostic procedures?  
 
Scopes use to be done in doctor offices if you didn’t want anesthesic.  
 
These are places that do eye surgeries but the province limits how many they can do in a day. Why? They can do more as they have the staff. Because province doesn’t want to pay more.  
 
Pay more to keep and recruit more staff and then open up hours and days available.  
 
I had a CT scan in evening in the fall got in a couple of weeks. No one else was waiting either before or after. You know why I asked When they phone waiting list people don’t want to come in evening. They don’t have staff to keep phoning people.  
 
It’s not always about equipment  
 
And it’s like everything else delayed trucking in parts delayed fixing equipment.