Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Waiting times for radiology and diagnostic services have been an issue for some time and the Government committed to the implementation of the Sláintecare report of 2017, which included a maximum wait time target of ten days for a diagnostic test. A key step to achieving that is fully understanding the current position. Implementation of the NTPF’s national radiology diagnostic waiting list management protocol by all hospitals is the step to ensuring that patients are administratively managed in a safe, timely, fair and equitable manner while waiting, as well as facilitating approved data collection and reporting. Publication of the validated radiology diagnostic waiting list information will enable full analysis of the diagnostic waiting lists and provide a more complete understanding of how many patients are waiting, how long they are waiting and the specific services they are waiting for.

This year, the productivity and savings task force published an action plan for 2025 that commits to a range of services being available seven days per week, including diagnostics activity. It will also ensure that all publicly funded diagnostics are captured within the national integrated medical imaging system, NIMIS, by the end of 2025, thereby improving core co-ordination and reducing duplication of tests and procedures. I am informed that St. Vincent's hospital is going on that this weekend. That will have a bit of an impact, but it is important.

More important than anything else, as all of us here visit our local hospitals and different hospitals in the health system, is that question about the utilisation of diagnostics. It is that heat map of use. I have seen better clarity and analysis throughout this year. It was a source of considerable distress to me, for example, to be in one hospital and see that map going from red to blue at 4.30 p.m. on a Friday, when of course it should be driving hard on Friday evening into Saturday and so on. That is what we all want to see, although I do see more of that happening. I am seeing extended hours in diagnostics. I am seeing real efforts to make sure we are rostering five over seven. There is particular pressure in relation to radiologists and radiographers but we need to focus on the management of the assets and resources we have at the moment and make sure the culture is one where you should be able to get those scans as quickly as possible, and that is enabled in part by workforce planning.

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