Management of targets: Kerry hospital’s huge workload

THE issue can be fudged any way you like; the debate can be garrotted by management-dodging but the fact that there were only seven cases of serious misdiagnosis by a University Hospital Kerry radiologist who dealt with 46,000 files between March 2016 to July 2017 seems a minor miracle.

Working on a five-day week basis that equates with almost 800 files a week, 150 or so every working day. Even the most ardent advocates of automation would hardly argue that such a fantastic level of production could be possible — even for the fittest robot.

It, unsurprisingly, adds another layer of fantasy to the story that the radiologist in question was placed on administrative leave but that the managers who hoped that one person might be able to deal with such a workload are still in place.