A CO CLARE hospital has introduced a system of allowing off-site registered consultant radiologists to read and report on X-rays taken at the facility.
Ennis General Hospital has introduced tele-radiology technology, by which most of the facility’s X-rays are now being sent electronically to experts for reporting.
The service is being provided through Global Diagnostics, an international leader in medical imaging technology, which was established in Ireland in 2007.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed that while some patient X-rays will continue to be reported on by qualified staff in Ennis, the majority of X-rays will be sent electronically to be read by radiologists in Enniskillen, Roscommon, Drogheda, Dublin and as far away as Germany.
The facility provides staff at Ennis with almost instant reporting on X-rays in some cases.
The tele-radiology service now ensures that critical X-rays are reported on in less than 15 minutes, while X-rays deemed to be urgent will be reported on in less than 90 minutes. Previously it took up to three weeks for a radiologist to report on routine X-rays. These non-urgent images can be read in less than 48 hours.
The reporting system will be carried out between 8am and 10pm seven days a week, while Global Diagnostics will also provide a consultant radiologist at Ennis one day every fortnight to undertake radiology work, which requires an expert to be on site.
In recent years, Ennis General Hospital has experienced difficulties recruiting a radiologist on a permanent basis and has depended on locum staff, at huge cost to the HSE.
A new CAT scan department in Ennis was closed soon after opening in 2009 because the hospital had no radiologist qualified to read the scans.
Despite further recent efforts to recruit a full-time radiologist following the departure of the hospital’s last locum, the HSE has not been able to fill the post. This is understood to have prompted the HSE to investigate the possibility of introducing tele-radiology.
HSE Health Forum (West) member and Clare councillor Brian Meaney said: “This is embracing new technology, and has to be welcomed.”
The move is another development at Ennis hospital, which will soon become Ireland’s first fully SARI-compliant healthcare facility. The Strategy for the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance in Ireland was initiated in 2001 with the aim of minimising the risk of hospital-acquired infections or so-called superbugs, including MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C diff).
More than a decade later, a €15 million wing is under construction in Ennis and when completed, all patients in the existing hospital building will be moved into the State’s first 100 per cent SARI-compliant medical facility.