Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 December 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Cardiovascular Health, Stroke and Heart Attack: Discussion

Mr. Mark O'Donnell:

We typically offer a range of checks at our public health events. A blood pressure check is always part of it because hypertension is one of the leading causes of heart disease and stroke and one of the major risk factors. We typically also do a pulse check as anomalies can be a marker for atrial fibrillation. It is a basic enough check. People get a consultation with one of our community health nurses. At the moment, we are looking at fitting it out with some more sophisticated equipment, such as an echocardiography machine, which would allow us to do echocardiograms within the community. However, resources and a specialist skill set are needed to provide that service. That has not been fully scoped out yet. In addition to that larger unit, we also have a smaller van-sized unit that has two screening bays. We are going to use that for more rural areas and communities that may be geographically harder to reach.

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