What it is:

The General Practice Referred Magnetic Resonance Imaging (GP MRI) programme enables GPs and Nurse Practitioners to have the right tools to manage injured patients in a timely and effective way.

The General Practice Referred MRI programme enables patients who have a knee, lumbar spine, or cervical spine injury that meets clinical criteria, to be directly referred for an MRI.

By removing the need for patients to visit a specialist before they can get an MRI, there should be faster access to high-tech images. Both patients and clinicians will benefit from this faster access. This allows primary care practitioners and radiologists to more quickly plan a patient’s next steps to deliver better value care.

Who can provide the GP MRI programme:

This can only be provided by Vocationally Registered General Practitioners, Nurse Practitioners or general scope medical doctors working in a general practice setting with appropriate supervision. You must have completed a GP MRI training programme to refer.

A Registrar can be included as long as they complete the GP MRI training programme, and work in a practice with a GP MRI trained general practitioner available to oversee their work.

Locum GPs – are encouraged to complete the training.

GP MRI training completed in the Southern region is recognised by the ACC for referral under the ACC GP Referred MRI programme in other primary health network regions.

GP MRI Training Programme:

WellSouth and Habit Health are hosting further in-person training sessions.

The training sessions will start at 5:30pm with a light supper, the formal training session will start at 6:00pm and is expected to finish at 8:30pm.

The training will include an introduction by the programme’s Clinical Lead, an introduction to Musculoskeletal MRI by a Consultant Radiologist, distribution and further explanation of ACC’s mandated Clinical Guidelines and hands on instruction around the assessment of the three body regions. An explanation of the referral process via the WellSouth Portal, quality assurance auditing and claiming via the WellSouth portal will also be included.

Exclusions - General Practitioners with Special Interest (GPSIs) and in most cases UCCs are not eligible to provide this service. This is because GPSIs can already access MRI services for clients, and UCCs, in general, do not have enrolled populations so are unlikely to have a need to access this service. The exception in UCC is where the service is being delivered under ACC’s Cost of Treatment Regulations (CoTR) to an ACC client who is not enrolled with a PHO.

Physiotherapists are not currently eligible to provide this service. 

Further queries please contact the Clinical Lead: Dr Richard Macharg at richard.macharg@wellsouth.org.nz