Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Building extra capacity in emergency departments is addressed on page 58 of the programme for Government. At University Hospital Kerry the procedure is such that one has to go through the emergency department to have an X-ray, even if someone has a letter from his or her general practitioner, GP, to go directly to the X-ray unit. A 95 year old woman who presented there last week had to wait eight hours to go through a doctor in the emergency department. It is duplication, for which there is no need. To give another example, Bantry General Hospital has an X-ray unit. If someone has a letter from his or her GP, he or she can go straight in and have an X-ray taken. Will the Taoiseach ask the HSE to deal with this issue because it would practically halve the queue in the emergency department at University Hospital Kerry if it was to operate under guidelines where, if a person had a letter of referral from a GP to the X-ray unit, he or she would not have to go through the emergency department?

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