Dr. Niamh Murphy:

I do not know if we know those data. It changes between different hospitals. The waiting list for an echocardiogram can be up to a year and the waiting list for an MRI is more than two years. There are excessively long waiting lists for all of these imaging tests. The GP would just have direct access to echocardiogram but that is not being fully developed in the community, because as we have mentioned, we have difficulty recruiting cardiac physiologists due to the embargo. Many community hubs GPs should be able to access for echocardiograms do not have staff in place, even though they may have the equipment, to perform them. Yes, the waiting lists for all of these imaging tests are excessively long.