Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is obviously very important to her, her constituents and those in the west. Galway University Hospitals, comprising of University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park University Hospital, provide a comprehensive range of services to emergency and elective patients on an inpatient, outpatient and day care basis across the two sites.

An issue has arisen with respect to the operation of the DEXA scanner situated at Merlin Park Hospital. The Minister for Health has been advised by the Saolta University Health Care Group that the bone density scanning service has been impacted, as the Deputy has rightly pointed out, by a shortage of radiographers. As a result, a waiting list has been building up for some time now.

Galway University Hospitals are actively working to recruit radiographers in order to fill a number of vacancies. One successful candidate will commence work in early July. An additional five individuals have been offered posts and are currently in the process of appointment. Recruitment to three further posts is ongoing. As I mentioned to another Deputy earlier today, recruitment of staff within the whole health sector is a big challenge that we need to overcome and a lot of changes need to happen in that regard. Saolta has advised that GUH plans to treat all patients booked into the bone density scanner service until the end of June 2016. In the interim they are reviewing options to manage the waiting lists after June, and that includes the employment of the agency staff.

The Saolta Group and the HSE are working to put the necessary arrangements in place to ensure the continuity of services from July. In the interim period until the newly recruited radiographers have taken up their posts, the hospital group is progressing a range of options, including staff overtime and outsourcing in order to ensure service continuity for patients. As the Deputy would also know, a number of facilities in Galway can also carry out DEXA scans, including Portiuncula and Sligo University Hospitals, and there are private facilities in the Galway area that also offer DEXA scans. That is of her area, so she needs to ensure that the service remains within the hospital.

It is also important to note that major developments are ongoing and planned for Galway University Hospitals. The programme for a partnership Government has committed to progressing a new emergency department facility. Construction work is also ongoing on the new 75-bed ward block as well as a new acute mental health department at the hospital. There will be much focus on making sure that those positions are filled and that the situation is tenable into the future.

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