David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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77. To ask the Minister for Health her plans to reduce waiting lists for diagnostic scans; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64613/25]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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This question relates to diagnostic waiting lists and the number of patients waiting for various forms of diagnostic equipment in hospitals across the State. The numbers are quite high, as I am sure the Minister will see. What are her views and plans for how she will reduce those wait times and the number of people who are waiting for a diagnostic scan?

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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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.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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The most recent figures are that almost 300,000 people are on a waiting list for a diagnostic scan. Over 77,000 of those have been waiting more than a year and over 46,000 have been waiting more than 18 months. That is far in excess of any Sláintecare targets. I gave examples earlier of CT scanners and other diagnostic equipment that is not being fully utilised, partly because we do not have the staff. I agree with the Minister that we need to do everything possible to fully utilise existing scanners and equipment. Anything that can be done in hospitals, and consultants doing more, is of course part of it but we also have to recruit the additional staff. The Minister knows there is a shortage of radiologists, radiographers, radiation therapists and other specialties. I also put to her that we need to look at rolling out diagnostic hubs similar to the surgical hubs that were rolled out. They are a really important part of a patient's healthcare journey. Obviously, you go to a GP and then get sent for a scan. However, if you have been waiting a year or two years, particularly if you are concerned, which of course people generally are if they are sent to get a scan, it adds to the stress and the totality of a person's healthcare journey. We can reduce that if we invest more in diagnostics.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I completely agree with the Deputy. Looking at the number of diagnostic scanners and machines in public systems, we have 550 scanners of different forms, including 62 CT scanners, 28 MRI scanners and so on, but it is about the use of them. One of the things we need to consider is how we might use the scanners available in a complementary local injury unit sitting alongside a hospital and how we can maximise the use of all of those diagnostics in different ways. That is another opportunity to expand capacity. I happened to be in County Mayo, and we were talking to staff about how that might be better integrated. In theory, the machines are capable of being used 24 hours per day. That is obviously unrealistic, but you would like to get to the point where they are being used for between12 and 14 hours per day at a minimum. That is entirely dependent on the staff and the way in which it is organised, and the Deputy correctly identified the shortage there. It is important to make sure, as we go hospital by hospital, that everyone is using the deployment of those staff in the most efficient way. I see examples of great improvement on that, and I hope to be able to report more thoroughly to the House after the series of regional meetings in January.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I took an active interest in the area of diagnostics after my mother passed. She went for a check in an emergency department and was told she would have to wait for possibly 12 to 18 months for a CT scan. We had the money to send her privately. She had that scan done in a matter of weeks, was diagnosed with cancer and, unfortunately, within a year had passed away. I know how important it is for people to get that timely access. I can only imagine how difficult it is for a person who is told they could be waiting months. They are worried about a potential growth and about symptoms. They have been sent by their GP. There is a human consequence to this. Even if we are looking at reducing the length of time people are in emergency departments, very often people waiting for the scan or X-ray to come back is what can hold up their journey through an emergency department. I believe there is merit in diagnostic hubs. I have discussed this with the Department and the HSE. I am a great believer in elective hospitals and surgical hubs. However, on this one, if we want to reach those Sláintecare targets, we have to look again. The Minister mentioned some of it, and it is welcome that she has a grasp of it, but we need to look at the whole area of diagnostics. Yes, we need more utilisation of what we have, but we also need other methods and investments to reduce wait times.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Deputy. I am also conscious that we have increased the referral pathways for diagnostics, from physios for example. They are all good things, but they increase the number of referrals and, therefore, the waiting time. It is particularly important that the Deputy highlighted a case like that of his mother, who was referred for a scan and really needed it. There is the contrast with an emergency scan in a hospital that might step across her scan. So many people in Ireland are quietly waiting for a scan and are concerned by that.

The focus on urgent and emergency care can take from that in some ways, so we have to try to do both. I fully respect what the Deputy says about the expansion of diagnostics, the referral pathways, the ease with which people can get the scans more quickly, how we can utilise our existing efficiencies and then, as we build, including with the surgical hubs, how we can consider using those diagnostics in the broader way. We really need more radiologists and radiographers as well. We also need them to be rostered five over seven.