€1 million lifesaving scanner lies idle in hospital

A LIFESAVING machine which cost €1 million has been lying idle in a Cork hospital for the last three months, because nobody has been appointed to operate it.

It’s the second piece of high-tech medical equipment gathering dust because of a shortage of funding or staff. Another CT scanner has been sitting in storage in its original packaging for the past three months and is surrounded by hampers of hospital laundry and cleaning equipment at the Louth County Hospital in Dundalk.

The Irish Examiner has learnt the CT scanner arrived at Mallow General Hospital just before Christmas, nearly three years after it was promised by then Minister for Health, Micheál Martin and it could take several weeks, if not months, before it becomes fully operational.

Members of the support group, The Friends of Mallow Hospital, have criticised the delay and pointed out that for the foreseeable future patients will have to travel by ambulance to Cork University Hospital to avail of CT scans.

Friends of Mallow Hospital spokesman, Noel O’Connor, claimed that consultants at the hospital and local GPs were “very frustrated” by the delay.

Prior to Micheál Martin’s promise — which was made on Good Friday three years ago — Mr O’Connor’s organisation was preparing to start a fundraising campaign to purchase a CT (Computerised Tomography) scanner.

“We were delighted when Micheál Martin said the Department of Health would fund it and then when it eventually arrived. It has been tested and it is working. But there is no radiographer attached to the hospital and of even more concern is that they [the HSE] haven’t even put an advert in the newspapers for the position,” Mr O’Connor said.

The machine, sometimes called a CAT scan, uses special x-ray equipment to obtain image data from different angles around the body and then uses computer processing of the information to show a cross-section of body tissues and organs.

A spokeswoman for the HSE (South Forum) said,

“The go-ahead for recruitment is expected shortly. In fact, it’s imminent,” the HSE spokeswoman added.

Nevertheless, other sources at the hospital have maintained it could take weeks, if not months, before the successful applicant is using the machine.