Roscommon charged €6k each week for “free” x-ray service – Naughten

In Health, Mid-Roscommon by Denis Naughten

Hospital group shambles exposed 
21st May 2015


The revelation that Roscommon County Hospital, one of the hospitals within the Saolta Hospital group, is being billed €6,000/week for the remote reading of x-rays, which could easily be covered free of charge, by University Hospital Galway, clearly exposes the fact that the new hospital groups are nothing more than a shambles, Denis Naughten TD has stated.

Instead of the new groupings supporting the viability of local hospitals, they are instead undermining the services that can safely be provided on these sites by failing to provide simple links such as reading x-ray results in the larger hospitals.

“It is totally unacceptable that Saolta management has allowed a situation to develop where a hospital in its group, Roscommon County Hospital, is being billed €6,000/week to have x-rays read which could easily be done at the press of a button in University Hospital Galway,” stated Denis Naughten.

“This confirms for me a long held view that while senior management and consultants in the major hospitals are happy to see services relocated to the bigger hospitals they have not been prepared to live up to their part of the bargain in supporting level 2 and 3 hospitals by delivering more services and supports locally.

“It is important to remember that the grouping of the Galway and Roscommon hospitals was the first to take place, so if this practice is going on with such a simple service to deliver over a computer from the larger hospital, then what other local services are being undermined by the Hospital Group model?

“What this has now exposed is the shambles that is the new hospital group model. It is clear that Senior Management are letting the Consultants in the major hospitals do what they like, without providing the support to the smaller hospitals which is supposed to be the fundamental pillar for the establishment of the Groups.

“Instead we have a situation where the last remaining consultant radiologist at Roscommon Hospital was recruited into a sister hospital, without it making any provision for a replacement. I am not for one moment critical of the Consultant, who was perfectly right to take up an effective promotion, but the Hospital Group knew exactly the implication of this appointment and should have, in advance, made provision to address the problem.

“This not only has created the issue being exposed today, but because of the loss of such a valuable Consultant, Roscommon Hospital has lost other diagnostic and cancer support services, which people are now forced to travel long distances to avail of.”

He added: “The principle behind the hospital group is to use the skills and manpower resources which are available in the specialist centre, in this case Galway University Hospital, to provide remote support via technology such as the x-ray system, local clinics to assess patients and where feasible local treatment and surgery.

“With a few exceptions this has not happened in Roscommon since its downgrading to a level 2 hospital and its grouping with Galway. In fact the opposite is the case with some clinics being cancelled and the vast majority of patients forced to travel to Galway to access services.

“The failure to take pressure off the major hospitals by maximising the use of level 3 and 2 hospitals, is placing additional and unnecessary pressure on A&E departments, which is impacting directly on the sickest and most vulnerable in our communities,” concluded Denis Naughten.

 

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