Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The only other case in regard to Ennis of which I am aware is the one to which I referred. I understand the HSE is investigating whether a breast cancer diagnosis was delayed. However, as Minister and a representative for Dublin Mid-West, I am aware of many cases around the country where there were misdiagnoses.

To put this in context and to be fair, because it is not often understood by the public, errors are made in even the best hospitals in the world, including the most resourced, the best equipped and a hospital I visited last year, M. D. Anderson in Texas, that deals with 78,000 cancers per year, which is nearly four times more cancers than we have in this country. In the developed world where research has taken place, it is estimated that in approximately 10% of hospital experiences are adverse and that 1% of them can result in a fatality. What we are trying to do in the reorganisation of our services is not to eliminate error because, as everybody acknowledges, that is impossible but to minimise the capacity for error making.

In regard to the scanner and any other equipment put in place, there are 37 hospitals in this country with accident and emergency departments for a population of 4.3 million. People do not need me to tell them that one cannot resource to the standards which might be expected in 37 hospitals with all the modern equipment necessary. It is not financially sustainable or possible, nor is it possible to get the kind of clinical expertise with that type of dispersion. It is very difficult to get top doctors to work in an environment with small volumes. That is the case in many of our hospitals and that is why we are trying to work to bring a network of hospitals together so that they complement each other and the clinicians work as part of a team in the region, such as the mid-west region where there are four hospitals. That is the ideal scenario.

The hospital is only of use to the patients in its catchment area if it can provide high quality services. I have no doubt that is what patients want and that is what we will have in Ennis. That is why the review I have asked HIQA to do will ensure that can be guaranteed in the future.

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