Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not have full information so I can only give the Deputies the information I have and I certainly will not withhold any information from them. I do not know the exact number of hospitals in which these three locums worked. That is being figured out at the moment. What I can say is that when it comes to the one locum associated with the one delayed diagnosis, all those cases have been traced. What is now being done, as I have been informed, is a trace-back of the two locums, against which no delayed diagnosis has yet been identified.

It is the case that we rely heavily on locum consultants in the Irish health service. The fact that we have now concluded an agreement with the IMO on salary scales will make it easier to hire full-time consultants and hospitals now have much more autonomy within their payroll budgets to hire people for full-time posts. We will, however, always have locums, particularly in smaller hospitals. A small hospital with, say, three or four radiologists or cardiologists or other consultants, is very much dependent on locums when one of the consultants is on maternity leave, out sick or away. It is different in bigger hospitals. If they have a rota of 15 or 16, it is possible to cover for one or two absences but that is not the case in smaller hospitals. That is an issue with smaller hospitals and we need to face up to it. The hospital groups will help. Additionally, when it comes to radiology, in particular, NIMIS technology will help because it has all scans on a digital screen. It is not in all hospitals yet but it will be. It allows for remote reporting and for audits to happen elsewhere. Measures have been taken to contact the hospitals overseas in which these three doctors are working. It is very important to bear in mind that no findings have yet been made against any of the locum consultants to whom we are referring.

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