Minister must resolve CAT issue at Ennis hospital – Carey

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed that the suspension of the CAT scanning service at Ennis hospital which took effect last October, may not be lifted until later this year depending on the appointment of extra consultants.
Deputy Joe Carey has called on Health Minister Mary Harney to intervene in the six-month suspension of the 16-slice €1 million CAT scanner.
It is also claimed there is a qualified radiologist in Ennis hospital who could analyse CAT scans but is not being allowed to do so because of HSE policy that states that having one radiologist on site is not in the best interests of patient safety.
Deputy Carey claimed no scans have been taken at Ennis hospital since October, despite the addition of modern facilities and trained staff.
He said the transfer of patients for CAT scans to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, where services are already overburdened, is placing an additional cost on the local ambulance service with considerable inconvenience for patients.
“There has been a stream of conflicting information coming from the HSE with regards to this much needed facility. Last January, we were told that staff were hired and that operations would be up and running without further delay. Now we learn that services have been suspended again following the departure of a temporary radiologist.
“It just beggars belief that a €1 million state-of- the-art facility would be out of action due to normal staff movements. The HSE’s job in this instance is to ensure that staffing levels are covered and managed so that the public have access to the scanner,” he said.
Deputy Carey confirmed he would be writing to Minister Harney and HSE chief Professor Brendan Drumm to ask them to step in and resolve this sitaution.
Ennis Hospital Development Committee chairman, Ciarán O’Dea claimed there is a radiologist in Ennis hospital who can read CAT scans but is being prevented from doing so by HSE policy.
“I have been informed that this radiologist is being frustrated in attempts to get the CAT scan service back up and running. It is difficult to understand in an era of cutbacks in the health service that the services of a radiologist are not being fully utilised.
“I would urge the HSE to allocate the promised additional diagnostic resources for services in Ennis hospital,” he said.
A HSE spokesman said a CT scanning service, supported by in-house radiology and radiography, was commissioned in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital Ennis in July 2009.
“The temporary suspension of the Ennis service was due to the departure of a temporary radiologist and made in the best interests of patient safety. It will only last until suitable qualified staff are available to run the service.  Lessons learned in Clare are that you do not engage in diagnostics of this nature without the required clinical skills being available. We expect this service to resume in mid year depending on the additional appointments at consultant level.
“A second CT scanner has been put in place at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick to increase diagnostic access for all patients especially in the emergency setting. Additional and replacement consultant radiologists were interviewed in November and we are awaiting recommendations from the Public Appointments Service,” he said.
He added that recruiting radiologists is difficult because of a world-wide shortage in the speciality and that “it is practically impossible to attract qualified radiologists to standalone posts in outlying hospitals such as Ennis”.
“The single Department of Radiology for the Mid-West will include three additional radiologist posts together with the new NIMIS (National Integrated Medical Imaging System),” he added.