James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

Free of charge, to boot.

This is a very serious matter. We have had scandal after scandal in this country. Patients have suffered. Patients have died. Families have suffered. The position is that the X-rays of 20,000 people have not been read three months after that became obvious. A major question arises about that too. In its statement this morning HIQA stated that staff from the authority met with the former chief executive on 24 June who reported that there were approximately 4,000 unreported X-rays. On a radio programme this morning, however, Professor Tom O'Dowd intimated that there were 20,000 when he asked HIQA in April to get involved. I find it extraordinary that HIQA took the word of a third party in this matter.

Furthermore, what happened between June and December of 2009 when the hospital knew this problem existed? When did remedial action start? When did action start in regard to reading these X-rays which had not been checked by a consultant radiologist? We must be clear about this. The minimum standard that anybody is entitled to when they have an X-ray taken is that it is reviewed by a consultant radiologist in a timely fashion. There are scores of stories of people who have had X-rays read at night by doctors who were not radiologists and serious fractures were missed. We heard of one on the radio this morning involving a lady who was X-rayed, sent home and eight weeks later told her spine was fractured. That person is lucky that she is not paralysed. That is a failure of our State.

The report from HIQA states that the medical director, Professor Kevin Conlon, who is now the chief executive officer, met HIQA in August. It is clear, therefore, that he knew about this in August. I put it to the Minister, however, that as a medical director he must have known about this problem before August and if he did not we have to wonder why. I find it astonishing that HIQA would not have informed the Minister for Health and Children of this serious problem.

It is now clear, having read the HIQA statement, that it is not acceptable for it to rely on third party information when a figure of 4,000 is given that six months later transpires to be 57,000. I said earlier that families have suffered. People have suffered and died in Portlaoise hospital, in the north east, Drogheda, Cork, Ennis, Limerick, Galway and now Tallaght. I must put it to the Minister, and to all the Ministers present, that this is one scandal and one death too many.

I am taken by the Minister's statement that the first thing to do is correct or cease the practice which has given rise to the concern. When was that done? Was it in mid-December when it should have been done in April or August? He further stated that the second thing to consider is the necessity to undertake a clinical review of patients. When did that begin? Was it April, August or December 2009? The Minister stated that the third thing to do was to consider an investigation. We are hearing today that we will get an investigation but that is only because it is in the public arena because a whistleblower, Fergal Bowers, had the courage to tell somebody about what was going on.

I put it to the Minister that not everything that should have been done has been done. The State failed these patients yet again. When this was discovered in December, if that is when it was discovered, and the Minister was informed, if she was a dutiful Minister she would have kept a watching brief on this issue every week. She would have ensured that resources were made available to the chief executive officer to bring in other radiologists from around the greater Dublin area, and beyond if necessary, to get through this work within a month. A person has died because that was not done. They may have died anyway but I say to the Minister of State that not enough effort was made. I put it to the Minister also that one person has died and another has been diagnosed with cancer. There are still 20,000 X-rays to be read and there is every chance, statistically, that another cancer will be found.

Not enough effort was made. This matter should have been resolved within a month, all the resources made available and the public announcement made but this Government appears to have a problem with releasing information and reports, and the Minister in particular seems to have that problem. The Minister stated that he very much regrets any distress caused to patients by the manner and timing in which this came into the public domain-----

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