Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept this is an operational matter, but every Member can tell a similar story in respect of other hospitals across the country. It is not just about the lack of upgrading of equipment or the purchase of a software package. The issue of medical politics is also at play. After I placed pressure on the then Government in 2015, it eventually installed a state-of-the-art telemedicine rapid access for stroke and neurological assessment, TRASNA, telemedicine stroke machine at Portiuncla University Hospital which would allow doctors at other hospitals to make life-saving stroke diagnoses of patients in Ballinalsoe, thus providing it with a 24-7 stroke service. However, that never happened because clinicians within the Saolta University Health Care Group would not agree to operate the machine or another machine at Mayo University Hospital. The same type of machines were installed in hospitals in Mullingar, Kerry and Wexford, as well as in St. Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny. How many stroke patients were treated using those machines in those hospitals? These are basic things that the taxpayer is funding to a significant scale within the hospital system, but A is not joined up to B and then not connected to C and, as a result, patients' lives are being put at risk and hard-earned public funds are being wasted.

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