Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

A number of issues are raised. I reject the inference that this has to do with resources. Reviews of radiology and other reviews are commonplace in hospitals throughout the world. For many years in Ireland we did not review anything. We did not bring things to light, as Deputy O'Dowd knows from what happened in a maternity hospital. For 25 years the rate of caesarean hysterectomies was 300 times higher than in hospitals in Dublin and that went without investigation.

In today's era things are brought to light. In this case, a cardiologist dealing with patients recognised a possible misdiagnosis and brought it to the attention of the authorities. A dispute arose among the health care professionals as to whether we would undertake a review of all the doctor's X-rays or a limited number. The jury is out on this. Some suggest carrying out a sample review and other suggest reviews all x-rays. This is international practice because advice was sought from HIQA and outside Ireland. The view taken by the HSE, which I support, is to examine all the work carried out by the person for one year.

Reviews take place not only of locums but also of full-time consultants. Issues are raised with regard to locums, which we are addressing in the health care system. We will always depend on locums because filling consultant appointments takes time. If somebody moves from one position to another we must replace him or her quickly. In these cases, locums are always used. This person was in place for approximately 12 months. It is common practice in every health care system of which I am aware to provide services by locum consultants. I do not believe or accept the Deputy's political charge that this has something to do with resources.

The HSE has written to tell the patients the review will be carried out. In other countries and systems a review is done and patients are contacted if an issue arises. We will carry out a review of data. We will not call in patients for another X-ray unless it is necessary and something comes to light. We are being totally open and transparent and informing all of the patients as the review begins. We believe that is best practice and we are doing it in accordance with the protocol put in place after the Portlaoise inquiry.

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