“The decision to cease services was abrupt and without consultation, and it puts our community at risk,” said Dr Peter Barker about Bendigo Radiology’s decision to withdraw its services from Cohuna.

Bendigo Radiology withdrew its services from its base at Cohuna District Hospital effective from the end of April, leaving the town without a replacement service, and leaving residents across the region to travel out of town for vital scans.

According to Dr Barker, Bendigo Radiology gave two weeks notice and was not prepared to discuss the situation or stay longer to allow Dr Barker and the hospital time to arrange an alternative service.

“They didn’t want to know about it, and they’ve just left,” Dr Barker said.

The departure means those seeking scans will need to travel to Kerang, Swan Hill, Echuca or Bendigo for x-rays and ultrasounds and Dr Barker says that hospital inpatients, theoretically, will have to travel by ambulance to the next closest facility to have a reportable x-ray because the hospital can’t transmit its films.

The equipment, some of it recently upgraded, belongs to the hospital, but the equipment used for transmission of the digital images was owned by Bendigo Radiology and has been removed. The PACS machine and DICOM viewer transport the images electronically to the viewing room in Bendigo, where specialists view them and send a report back to the doctor.

Bendigo Radiology has “pulled out their transmission equipment that allows x-rays to be viewed elsewhere, so it’s moved us back 30 years to when Doc and I used to do the x-rays ourselves,” said Dr Barker, referring to the late Dr Peter Graham.

The 25–30-year relationship it has with the hospital was not enough for Bendigo Radiology to grace the town with any extra time to find an alternative service.

“Without warning, they’ve said to us they’re not coming anymore. They said they haven’t got enough radiographers to do the work,” said Dr Barker.

“It is just bizarre that they would do that without discussion, but it’s a private business, so they’re allowed to.”

Dr Barker is angry he has not had any response to emails or phone calls from Bendigo Radiology.

But, Dr Barker is sceptical of the real reason behind the decision. He says it stems back to money. 

“What happened is that the people who used to run it and cared about country practices, they’ve retired. So, there’s a younger group of doctors that run it, and they’re out to make money. So, I’m very cynical that they’ve got a bad attitude.”

“On the one hand, the reason they’re stopping is their contract is finished, and on the other hand, they’re actually building a new facility in Echuca. So, it’s really interesting.”

Dr Barker has said that Kerang will also lose its service in the next 12 months, and Swan Hill in September, leaving rural communities without essential services. “It’s amazing that, again, people in country towns have been not thought about.”

In the meantime, a DICOM viewer and PACS machine will be installed this week, but a reporting service is also needed to return the service to what it was and to cater for the community’s needs.

“We’ve been put in a very hard situation, and we’re doing something about it. The hospital, with us [doctors], we’re actively looking for another reporting service.”

Until that reporting service is found, only emergency scans will be done. “For the next few weeks, the x-rays that will be done will be emergency ones. So, we’ll still have an emergency service. Hopefully, we’ll get a new service, which is better, soon.”

The Bridge contacted Bendigo Radiology, however, they declined to comment.

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 4 May 2023.