‘CT in a truck’ fleet won’t be ready when national lung cancer screening starts
When ready, the mobile CT clinics will perform up to 40 scans a day.
GPs will start screening patients for lung cancer in July but outback towns will not see the promised mobile CT scanners until at least November, officials say.
The National Lung Cancer Screening Program will involve GPs referring patients aged 50-70 with a 30-pack-year smoking history for chest CT at radiology clinics — with an estimated 900,000 patients eligible.
Radiologists are already concerned that the $308 Medicare rebate for conducting a CT scan under the program is too low.
For areas too remote to have fixed radiology services, the Department of Health and Aged Care has commissioned five battery-operated, off-road trucks with full-sized CT scanners from mobile health clinic maker Heart of Australia.
