Cape Breton’s $800,000 Nuclear Camera - It’s in a Box

The Chronicle Herald  informed us on January 17th , that the Cape Breton Regional Hospital has an $800,000 nuclear medicine camera sitting in a box.

It’s been sitting in that box for about a year.

Spokesman, Greg Boone, wants to assure us that it isn’t such a big deal. He suggests that wait times and patients have not been affected. The basis of his assertion is that the three existing cameras the hospital already has, ranging in age from eight to twenty five years old, are doing the job.

The excuses expressed in the Herald article talk about stuff like spending in the next “fiscal year”, and when the warranty coverage commences. It’s the type of indifferent talk that might be of interest to government accountants and maybe the team selling extended warranties at Best Buy.

However, I do not think those factors are very important to people with life threatening health issues, or to the taxpayers in a province than can’t afford to waste $800,000. That’s $800,000 that could be spent elsewhere.

There is an obvious contradiction in the logic expressed by Boone and Rakesh Minocha, the “senior director of building, infrastructure and asset management for the Nova Scotia health authority”.

Doesn’t new nuclear medicine technology have improvements over 25 year old technology?

Let's gain a little perspective.

The newest of the existing cameras is eight years old. That draws an interesting comparison. That’s about the same amount of time that has passed since the first iPhone was introduced in 2007.

For those that use smartphones, think of the changes that have happened since 2007. Could you imagine using one of those old “first generation” iPhones from eight years ago? Back then, they were state of the art. Now it would be hard to give them away on Kijiji. They've been changed and improved. They do more and work better.

Let’s stick with the phone analogy for a moment. What did portable telephone technology look like 25 years ago? By the way, that’s when the oldest of the hospital’s nuclear cameras was acquired.

Well, for those of you that had one at the time, you'll recall that it looked like one of these bulky car phones:

Would it be reasonable to suggest that the technology and capabilities of nuclear medicine cameras have improved over the last eight to twenty five years as well?

If you had cancer symptoms and were given the choice between a twenty five year old medical device and the new one, which diagnostic capabilities would you want to bet your life on?

What if the camera sitting in a box for a year really didn’t have any impact on wait times or patient outcomes?

Let’s suspend our better sense for a moment. Let’s imagine that the new camera doesn’t offer any technological improvements over the twenty five year old technology. And, for the moment, let’s accept the assertion at face value that no patient wait times were affected.

If that is the case, it would appear the province spent $800,000 on a device that we don’t need.

Now they suggested that they received a deal (i.e. “competitive pricing”) for buying an extra one. In so doing, they essentially fell for one of the biggest manipulations that consumers fall for everyday.

A discount can lure people (and apparently health authorities with multi-million dollar budgets) into buying things they don’t need.

Let’s imagine the cost of the camera is typically $1 million dollars. By buying three, Rakesh Minocha thinks he saved $200,000. If the Cape Breton Regional Hospital really doesn’t need the device, then what he really did was waste $800,000. He didn’t save anything.

What does Cecil Clarke’s bald head teach us about “opportunity cost”?

Opportunity cost is the “cost of the best alternative forgone”. If you have only $100 and you spend it on gasoline, then you can’t spend it on groceries. The groceries would be the opportunity cost - what you missed out on.

In this case, spending $800,000 on a nuclear medicine camera that we are not using has an $800,000 opportunity cost.

What other types of medical equipment needs did our Cape Breton Regional Hospital have?

Back in September in a good spirited fundraising campaign, Mayor Clarke pledged to  shave his head  if he could raise $10,000 in donations.

It was a part of a campaign to help the  Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation  buy a new linear accelerator for cancer treatment. They needed to raise over $900,000.

And all the while that these good people, our mayor, the business community and the citizens of Cape Breton rallied together to raise as much of the $900,000 as they could…

Well… we had a supposedly unnecessary $800,000 nuclear medicine camera sitting in a box. Bought and paid for. Collecting dust.

And now we know exactly what the opportunity cost of wasteful spending is. It had a direct impact on many of the 1,200 new people who unfortunately receive cancer diagnoses in Cape Breton each year. There isn’t likely a family living here on the island that hasn’t been impacted by this deadly disease.

Don’t take the word of bureaucrats or public relations professionals when it comes to matters of life and death for many of our own.

I’m going to reach out to our MLAs to ask that they don’t treat this as routine or acceptable either. It’s about a lot more than rigid conformity to fiscal years and nonsense talk about when warranties commence.

I’m also asking each of you to share this post to your social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, or share with your colleagues). Let’s work together to send a message that this kind of decision making is not acceptable.

It’s time to get that camera out of the box… along with the thinking processes of provincial officials.

Posted by
Receive news by email and share your news and events for free on goCapeBreton.com
SHOW ME HOW


3,712 13
https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-bretons-s800000-nuclear-camera---its-in-a-box-2
Cape Breton Regional Hospital spokesman admits they've had an $800,000 nuclear medicine camera sitting in an unopened box for about a year.
People Blogs & Opinions

13

Log In or Sign Up to add a comment.
Depth
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me
As indicated in my article, I have reached out to our MLAs, as well as Mayor Clarke, the Premier, the Health Minister, NS Health Authority, and Councillor Ray Paruch. I've also tweeted to those active on Twitter. I'll provide updates on who responds, who doesn't, and what the general feedback or resulting action steps that are initiated are. TBD. If you would like to get in touch with them regarding this matter, please private message me and I will share with you my rough notes with their contact information. It's all publicly available, but I've already put in the effort of collecting it - and can save you some time.
Helen Mischiek Follow Me
What a terrible waste when so much is needed. Get rid of the oldest one and replace with this one! Seems like the solution to me.
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me
Sounds like a very practical solution. :) A family member was recently hospitalized for a week (pre-Xmas). The attending physician at the CB Regional Hospital told him that there was a delay in getting his testing because only "1 of the 3 machines" was operational. I *cannot confirm* if it was the same device as the ones mentioned in this article, but it does give me pause. It may have been another type of device, but certainly one in need of either repair or replacement. Someone else, in conservation, also suggested that it would be reasonable for them to take one of the older machines offline, and to move it to a healthcare location in Nova Scotia that might otherwise not have the budget for it. Then use the room to set it up. I know there may be different spacial requirements. However, venting and lining walls with lead doesn't seem to be in the class of extraordinary challenges.
Jim Clark Follow Me
Since, one of the huge isssues in CB is specifically long wait times for medical testing, I would be very surprised indeed if this particular test was the exception. I'd like to hear from someone in the community about their experience with these tests in Cape Breton. 2 day wait time, 2 month etc.?
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me
Capabilities of the device are certainly just as (if not more important than) wait times. But I'll focus on wait times for the moment. Question for Mr. Boone: ►If the new machine was installed, you assert that the hospital would *not* be able to process *more patients per day* than if it was not installed at all? If the answer is affirmative, then they must be replacing one of the existing machines. So why would they replace a machine that is in working order, and delivering just as effective results? I believe it's either (a) failing to achieve shorter wait times, and/or (b) failure to deliver a higher quality diagnostic available with the new technology. A few months ago, a family member was suffering with an unknown illness that was a precursor to cardiac arrest (as we would find out later). One of the reasons he had to say in emergency for a week was that 2/3 of the diagnostic devices they needed to run his tests were ►broken down. This was stated by the attending physician. This was told to me at that time by a very reliable contact. They specifically stated that there were *3*. (cont'd)
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me
Part II: We would have to check the medical records to find out which device was used. Case 1: If it was the nuclear medicine device, then the spokesman's assertion is inaccurate. Because a broken down device (2 of them) absolutely does and *did* affect wait times. This man had to stay in the hospital for a week waiting. In the end, he was given a clean bill of health, only to go out West and (just one week later) collapse with cardiac arrest with 3 blocked arteries, one of which was 100%. And the heart specialist in Edmonton expressed surprise this was not discovered at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital. Case 2: If it was NOT the nuclear medicine device, then it simply demonstrates that the hospital has two important machines malfunctioning. So perhaps the $800k would be better spent buying new or fixing existing diagnostic machines that are *not* working and are needed. Versus buying something new to sit in a box. Re: Equipment List http://www.cbdha.nshealth.ca/ic2/intranet/Site/view.cfm?siteID=5034 Scroll to the bottom for "Statistics and Equipment" There are only three devices that they have 3 units of at the hospital. - 3 Portable Flouroscopy Units - 3 CT Units (64 Slice) - 3 Nuclear Medicine Cameras If it's not the nuclear medicine cameras that are having issues, then it's either the CT units or the flouroscopy units that the attending physician said were not functioning and were causing increased wait times.
Bill Goldston Follow Me
Such foolish waste is everywhere. I'd suggest selling it, but I'm afraid the $1 they get for it would not go toward the linear accelerator and it would be a total loss.
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me
There might be an expensive piece of medical equipment sitting in storage in another Nova Scotia hospital that we could trade it for. That's not entirely sarcasm. If there was a strategic and practical thinker in charge of these decisions, they could make things work out. Based on what I've seen so far, most reasonable people could take on the job and do better. And, I'm quite confident that isn't a statement of naivete as many might suggest. If you buy it, use it. If you don't need it, don't buy it. And if you're buying it, make sure that you have sufficient resources to deploy it. These problems are not solved by spin doctors hoping the story will be forgotten about in a few days.
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me
Some political representatives are beginning to get in touch with me. However, I want to provide a reasonable allocation of time. I'm sure they all have very busy schedules and a great deal of communications to go through. Thank you to those who have acknowledged receipt or reached out for follow up so far.
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me
Here is a list of stakeholders I reached out to via email to ask about this issue: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Ray Paruch [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected][email protected] acknowledged it and said that they passed the information along to those in charge of capital equipment purchases. No further follow up was received. ►MLA Alfie MacLeod, [email protected], thanked me for sharing my concerns, and provide no indication of any action, and made no comment on the issue. He is notable as he also participated in the promotion to raise money for the hospital. ►MLA Derek Mombourquette, initially reached out to offer to talk, but did not follow up again after I sent him a response message on Facebook. No others from the listen bothered to respond.
[comment deleted] Posted
Agnes Chisholm Follow Me
I wonder how many people have lost their lives because of those?💔
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me
There was an announcement today of $400,000 per year in funding for the clinic at the CBRH. This would allow them to increase capacity by 1,000 patients. Now we have an excellent opportunity for some perspective. This announcement would certainly suggest that a large and generous amount of money that can do a lot of good has been committed. But let's think about the $800,000 camera that was and quite possibly still *is* sitting in a box at the hospital. $400,000 x 2 = $800,000 Very basic math. That camera had enough money tied up, being wasted, that it could have funded doctor availability for: 2,000 new patients for 1-year, 1,000 new patients for 2-years, or 500 new patients for 4-years So perhaps now the political figures I contacted with these concerns might gain a little better understanding of what *opportunity cost* actually means. We're not talking about political capital or expediency. We're talking about health access, health outcomes, quality of life, and its impact on the decision of whether to stay here, or join the exodus that is powering Cape Breton's continued decline. Now it's spelled out for you all. P.S. I'm glad to see Alfie MacLeod taking a leadership role in this. Beyond acknowledging my email, he didn't follow up again and certainly didn't express any great deal of concern about it.
Cora MacNeil Follow Me
How many other lifesaving dollars have been wasted? I've heard it said by Tim Huston, that per capita, Nova Scotia’s healthcare spending is being mismanaged. (I'm paraphrasing).

Facebook Comments

View all the LATEST
and HOTTEST posts
View

Share this comment by copying the direct link.

  • Our Sponsors

Using this website is subject to the Terms of Use that contain binding contractual terms.