Virtus unveils New Rapid Access Endoscopy Clinic at Mackay Specialist Day Hospital

Virtus Health today announced the opening of a Rapid Access Endoscopy (RAE) Clinic at Mackay Specialist Day Hospital (a member of Virtus Health) to provide faster and easily available bowel screening services to the Mackay community and surrounding regions.

Led by A/Prof Guy Hingston, a highly respected surgical oncologist with a passion for preventative health, RAE is the first clinic of its kind in Mackay. 

"Bowel, or colorectal, cancer is responsible for over 4,000 deaths in Australia each year, and many of these are preventable with appropriate screening. RAE is designed to reduce the wait times for bowel screening and accelerate the delivery of test results as a preventable health measure in regional Queensland," said Bronwyn Jenner, Virtus Health's General Manager of Day Hospitals.

Offering streamlined gastroscopy and colonoscopy services, RAE will operate out of Mackay Specialist Day Hospital using our cutting-edge endoscopy equipment. 

The service utilises telehealth consultations to not only minimise wait times and test-related anxiety among patients, but also reach more regional communities through eliminating the need to schedule pre-procedure consultations with specialists in their rooms, which can lead to lengthy delays.

People with complicated medical problems or discomfort can be rapidly triaged through the service and universal no-gap billing (procedure, hospital and pathology fee) for insured patients is guaranteed. Competitive uninsured packages are also available.

"We congratulate the entire team at Mackay Specialist Day Hospital for their tireless work in establishing this crucial service, and to A/Prof Hingston for his partnership and vision. Together, we hope to provide a valuable service in the prevention of bowel cancer and encourage more people to participate in regular screening," Bronwyn said.

RAE will take its first patients in November 2022.