Ms Marie O'Shea:

I am not aware of anything the HSE has done in this regard. It certainly is an issue in some parts of the country. Some hospitals provide the service but the HSE has also contracted private entities to provide ultrasound scanning. In some parts of the country, it works really well. In other parts, there are problems in terms of referrals not being received, being overlooked, the sonographer not being available or other issues. Patients may ring up and be told either the hospital does not have the referral or they need to wait for somebody to come back from leave or whatever it is to do the scan. Meanwhile, time is ticking on.