A radiologist who has worked at St. Joseph鈥檚 General Hospital for more than 30 years has withdrawn his hospital privileges amid concerns about the quality of his CT scans.
The provincial Ministry of Health Services staff brought the issue, which involves a licensed and credentialed longtime radiologist in the Comox Valley who has not been identified, to the attention of Dr. Doug Cochrane, chair of the B.C. Patient Safety and Quality Council, Monday. The ministry has asked Cochrane to include the matter in his review into the quality of medical scans in B.C.
Cochrane has already been charged with investigating about 3,400 misinterpreted CT scans performed by two radiologists who worked at hospitals in Powell River and Abbotsford last year in a provincial review that was announced Friday.
鈥淚鈥檓 deeply disturbed by these developments and the concern this may cause patients in the Comox Valley,鈥� Minister of Health Services Colin Hansen, a G.P. Vanier grad, said in a news release Monday. 鈥淚 want to assure them we will act swiftly to get the facts and ensure any medical followup that may be required is dealt with as quickly as possible.鈥�
The Ministry of Health Services and the executive of the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) were informed late Friday by St. Joseph鈥檚 CEO Michael Pontus of a concern about the quality of CT scans read by one of the hospital鈥檚 radiologists.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. was contacted and recommended that the radiologist have all of his privileges suspended, pending the outcome of the review. The radiologist has withdrawn his privileges to practise at the hospital.
VIHA has not yet determined how many patients may be affected, as that will depend on how far back the investigation reaches, noted spokesperson Suzanne Germain.
鈥淲e recognize that people will hear this on the news and will have concerns,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t applies at this point to CT scans and only to that radiologist. We鈥檙e working to very quickly identify individuals whose CT scans are involved ... then we will be notifying by mail patients and their physicians that the scan will be given a second look. We hope to get that information out very quickly to individuals. At this point, we鈥檙e not aware of any additional patient safety issues.鈥�
Patients who have concerns are encouraged to contact their family doctor or HealthlinkBC at 8-1-1.
A small team of individuals from VIHA has begun working to gather facts about the situation, such as the radiologist鈥檚 credentials and how long he has been working in Comox, and is working with Cochrane to determine how far back to investigate, explained Germain.
鈥淔rom our perspective, we want to alleviate concerns for patients as quickly as possible, and we鈥檙e moving on this, working with St. Joseph鈥檚 and Dr. Doug Cochrane as quickly as possible,鈥� she said.
The radiologist in question has been practising at St. Joseph鈥檚 for more than 30 years and has been well-respected by his peers, according to a news release from the Ministry of Health Services.
VIHA has been told that in January, a number of this radiologist鈥檚 colleagues had concerns about the quality of his work and one asked for a second read of a number of CT scans that he had initially interpreted.
Those second reads apparently found a number of significant errors.
Pontus became aware of 鈥渁 cluster of incidents鈥� Jan. 18, and on that day, the hospital removed the radiologist鈥檚 right to read CT scans.
鈥淚t gave us enough concern that we felt the privilege should no longer be there until a review was done,鈥� he said.
Management sought advice from the hospital鈥檚 risk management department and sought legal advice and was in the process of doing so without knowing that radiology concerns were arising elsewhere in the province when Cochrane鈥檚 provincial review was announced Friday, explained Pontus.
鈥淭his is a quality assurance review because it鈥檚 not one born because we have a patient incident that has reached a patient that has caused a review,鈥� he said.
This investigation is different than the investigations in Powell River and Abbotsford, noted Pontus.
鈥淭his has nothing to do with ultrasound at this time,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he individual has never had his privilege removed at any time. We have done this as a quality assurance measure while not having him continue to read CT; they let the individual continue to practise while the review took place.
鈥淗ere, we took the pre-emptive measure, and the individual, as of yesterday, has taken a leave of absence of the other duties that were not in question.鈥�
When the review team determines how far back is reasonable to look, there will be a measured process that will include an independent review of the scans, and this review will be compared to the radiologist鈥檚 reading and a judgment will be formed, explained Pontus.
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
