James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

The reports states clearly:

There were severe systemic and other weaknesses at management level, and the structures at Board level were simply not robust enough to provide the level of governance, supervision and direction required in the management of a large and complex organisation.

Indeed, the same could be said of the HSE, but we are talking about Tallaght Hospital here. Warnings were ignored or met with an ineffectual response. There were 30 occasions between 2005 and 2009 when consultant radiologists expressed concerns about the radiology department and the litany of management responses in that period demonstrates a clear awareness of the problem but no resolve to address it.

Tallaght Hospital, as the Minister correctly points out, has 13 radiologists. St. Vincent's has 16 radiologists yet Tallaght Hospital does twice the amount of X-rays. Why is this so? When will the two additional consultants be appointed and commence work? The Minister will be aware of the problems that an over-reliance on locums has caused in the past. Permanent staff are what is required here. According to the Hayes report, it took 13 years and nine years, respectively, to appoint radiologists to Tallaght Hospital. Why does it take the Department and the HSE so long to appoint desperately needed staff?

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