X-ray fiasco - Minister’s position is untenable

Health Minister Mary Harney admitted in a Morning Ireland interview yesterday that the incoming chief executive of Tallaght Hospital, Professor Kevin Conlon, informed her on December 15 last about the problems at the hospital’s radiology department.

Yet, she added, it was only yesterday that she appreciated the extent of the problem.

A consultant radiologist had not viewed 57,921 X-rays taken between 2004 and 2009. She admitted that was “unacceptable medical practice”, but noted it was just 6% of all the X-rays taken during the period. The hospital does between 190,000 and 200,000 a year.