A 35-year-old man who had a stroke is in intensive care after updated results of his CT scan were not passed on, 9News can reveal.
The man presented at Gold Coast Hospital’s emergency department with a headache earlier this week.
He was sent for a CT scan and then to a short-stay area before an emergency doctor updated his report to request an MRI.
But case notes stated: “This new report was not phoned through and there is no record of the change to the report or that anyone was notified.”
After the patient’s condition worsened, subsequent brain scans found the patient had suffered a stroke, with the man now in the intensive care unit.
It’s yet another troubling case reported by concerned staff at the Gold Coast Hospital.
9News can also reveal that another elderly patient waiting for elective heart surgery had a CT scan performed on August 15.
He, however, died almost two weeks later.
His scan wasn’t examined until September 4 – nine days after he died.
Hospital staff wrote: “The case remained in the unreported backlog until 4/9/24 when the multiple bilateral pulmonary emboli were identified.”
A Gold Coast Health spokesperson said there would be a clinical assessment of the events, adding that neither incidents were related to the previous medical imaging backlog.
“A clinical assessment will be undertaken by a multidisciplinary team of clinical experts, and until this occurs, the classification of these unrelated events remain unconfirmed,” the spokesperson said.
“As a learning organisation with a strong safety culture, all staff are encouraged to raise any unexpected patient outcomes through well-established patient safety and quality channels.
“We can confirm neither of these cases are related to the previously reported but now resolved medical imaging backlog.”
