Children waiting two years for MRI scan at Children’s Hospital

Sick children are having to wait up to two years to have a MRI scan carried out at the State's largest paediatric hospital because of a lack of resources.

Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin is receiving almost twice as many requests for a MRI scan as it can handle in an average week, according to internal correspondence seen by The Irish Times.

In a letter to members of the clinical board of the hospital, consultant paediatric radiologist David Rea describes the level of service to children requiring MRIs as a crisis and "completely inappropriate" given their clinical needs.

Mr Rea says his department cannot increase output and cut wait times without an increase in resources in the form of additional anaesthetic, MRI radiographer, nursing and radiology staff.

According to the note, the wait time for walk-in patients not requiring general anaesthetic or sedation is up to 11 months, depending on the level of urgency. April 2016 For children requiring general anaesthetic for a MRI scan the wait time is up to 23 months, depending on the urgency. This means a child booked in today for a MRI under such conditions will not get one until April 2016.

For children who require sedation the wait time is up to five months, depending on the level of urgency.

Mr Rea says the radiology department receives 74 new requests a week, but is able to perform only 42-45 cases. It has access to the “under-resourced” anaesthetic service on only two days a week.

He points out that the output of MRIs at the hospital increased 55 per cent between 2007 and 2012, but says further resources are necessary.

"This issue has been discussed on multiple occasions with our local corporate management team who are acutely aware of the issues involved." Limited resources Mr Rea concedes that local hospital management has limited resources to resolve the problem.

One initiative will see internal resources moved to fund elective MRI lists on two Saturdays a month for a six-month period from June.

A spokesman for Crumlin hospital said it would not be able to respond to questions about MRI waiting times before Monday.