Dr. Niamh Murphy:

Echo is included in the community hubs, whereas cardiac CT and cardiac MRI is not. We have to develop advanced cardiac imaging in Ireland and one possibility we have looked at is colocating the advanced imaging centre along with the surgical hubs in the community. This has a lot of advantages because these are centrally located and they could provide patient-centred care to the whole community. That moves the diagnostics out into the community, freeing up space in acute hospitals for inpatient work. One of the proposals that has gone in is where advanced imaging centres are collocated in the community. The site that has been identified would be adjacent to the surgical hubs, which are going to be amazing facilities.