CUH scanner - Is the HSE fit to manage?

WITH early treatment vital for cancer patients, it is shocking that state-of-the-art equipment is lying idle because the HSE has not recruited specialist staff to operate it.

As a result, hundreds of seriously ill patients from all over Munster are forced to make the arduous return journey to Dublin for life-saving scans.

Eight months ago the HSE received clearance to recruit specialists to operate the €3.8 million PET/CT scanner at Cork University Hospital (CUH).

One of only two in the Republic, the highly sensitive PET can image the biology of disorders at molecular level while the CT provides a detailed picture of a patient’s internal anatomy, enabling doctors to more accurately diagnose and monitor cancer, heart disease and brain disorders.

Though it received clearance last November to circumvent the embargo on recruitment, no patient has yet been scanned at CUH despite the Government campaign for greater efficiency in the public service.

Top-heavy with administrative staff, is it any wonder the HSE is perceived by the public as not fit to manage Ireland’s ailing health service?