IrishMedicalNews

€3.8m CUH PET scanner idle due to embargo

Written by Paul Mulholland Monday, 08 February 2010 15:08

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A much needed PET scanner purchased for €3.8 million for Cork University Hospital (CUH), lying idle since last year, is likely to remain unused for the foreseeable future due to the public sector recruitment embargo.

A consultant radiology post, which is essential to operate the scanner, falls under the public service moratorium and cannot be filled, so public patients in the HSE South have to be referred to Dublin for a PET scan.

The HSE  officially decided in 2006 to procure the scanner and construction of the new facility and installation of the scanner was completed in 2009, but it has not been used due to the lack of staff to operate the machine.

The HSE has identified the posts required to operate the scanner and has begun the application process for approval to fill non-exempt posts, but cannot proceed with the appointment of a consultant radiologist due to the staff embargo.

The non-exempt posts  needed to operate the scanner include specialist radiographers, clinical radiographers, a principal physicist and a staff nurse.

The HSE South could not give IMN a specific time period for the posts to be filled.

“Commissioning of the scanner is dependent on the core staff being in post,” a spokesperson for the Executive said. “These posts once sanctioned will be filled via the normal HSE recruitment process.”

Until the PET scanner in CUH becomes operational, patients will continue to travel to St James’s Hospital or the Mater Hospital in Dublin, with whom the HSE has service level agreements for the provision of PET-CT services.

In 2008, some 108 PET scans were referred from the HSE South to the Hospitals at a cost of €250,000, and it is understood a similar number of patients were referred last year.