Galway MRI machine saves lives – but only during office hours
The life-saving MRI machine at University Hospital Galway (UHG) is operational during office hours only. Saolta, the new health care group that manages UHG, has confirmed the city hospital’s MRI unit is open only Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm.
The revelation was confirmed in response to Dáil queries from Independent TD Denis Naughten.
Deputy Naughten said it was a “bloody disgrace” that a so-called ‘centre of excellence’, serving the entire west coast of Ireland, has no capacity to perform an MRI after 6pm, or at weekends.
Deputy Naughten said the lack of an MRI scan facility at UHG during business hours was needlessly putting lives at risk. He said patients in the west were being treated as second class citizens as they were deprived MRI scans after hours.
“We have been told that University Hospital Galway is a centre of excellence, and yet you cannot get an MRI scan at weekends or in the evenings. They closed Roscommon A&E, they have downgraded Portiuncula A&E by default, and this was all on the basis that patients would get the best of care in UHG.
“Now we have a situation where UHG, which covers an area from Donegal to Limerick and stretching to Athlone, is without an out of hours MRI machine. This is a bloody disgrace,” said Deputy Naughten.
Deputy Naughten cited cases where patients requiring MRI scans were transported by ambulance to Dublin hospitals at huge cost.
“It would save money in the long run to hire somebody to be on-call to operate the MRI machine at Galway; this would be a better use of resources and would also save lives,” he said.
In response to Deputy Naughten, Ann Cosgrove, general manager of Galway University Hospitals (UHG and Merlin Park), blamed staff shortages: “We do not have sufficient staffing resources to extend the working day for this (MRI scan) service currently; however we are exploring options that may allow us to address this issue in future.”
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.