HSC cancer-diagnostic scanner sits idle due to lack of staff

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This article was published 12/04/2023 (926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The lack of specialized staff to run nuclear imaging equipment means a cancer diagnostic tool sits unused in a Winnipeg hospital.

Manitoba’s second positron emission tomography scan machine was installed at the Health Sciences Centre in January 2021 with plans to have both machines operating at the same time to meet growing demand for the scans, Shared Health said.

But that hasn’t happened yet, and the recruitment process to hire staff to operate the equipment hasn’t yet begun.

“It’s sitting, because there’s no additional staff to operate it,” said Manitoba Association of Health-Care Professionals president Jason Linklater.

A Shared Health spokesperson said delays for scans have “generally not been of any significant length,” but clinical staff have reported seeing longer wait times in recent weeks.

Funding is in place to recruit for the positions and the jobs will be posted shortly, the spokesperson said.

PET scans use nuclear imaging to detect tumours and can help diagnose cancer or assess the effectiveness of cancer treatment.

The Shared Health spokesperson could not provide an exact amount for the purchase in 2021, but said a typical PET system currently costs between $2 million and $3.5 million, depending on configuration and capabilities. That amount would not include the associated costs for site preparation and installation or support equipment for dose dispensing and injecting.

The equipment requires nuclear-medicine technologists to operate it, and there aren’t any professionals available in Manitoba to fill new positions, said Linklater.

The association represents roughly 47 nuclear-medicine technologists who are already employed in the province. Linklater said the union is aware two students who would be eligible to work in Manitoba are set to graduate in October from Calgary’s Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, which runs a 22-month diploma program.

It takes time to train specialized staff, Linklater said, criticizing the province’s “poor planning.”

He said the union has heard concerns from staff who see the impact on patients about the lack of technologists to run the second machine.

“You have patients, Manitobans, living with cancer, and these are potentially life-saving diagnoses that they’re giving to patients, and to have it sit unused due to poor planning or poor funding is really frustrating for them,” Linklater said.

The first PET scan system in the province was installed at HSC’s John Buhler Research Centre in 2005. It was meant to stay in operation once the new equipment was purchased, but by that time, the original machine needed to be replaced.

The Free Press has requested more information from Shared Health about its available funding to recruit nuclear-medicine technologists, and how much it will cost to bring in the new staff.

MAHCP is in bargaining for a new contract for its 6,500 members and is conducting a strike vote that closes at midnight Thursday.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com