A local doctor says the decision that all GP ultrasound referrals must now go through UHL instead of Nenagh is hugely disappointing.
This comes as Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly announced that a Performance Management Improvement Unit (PMIU) of the HSE is to engage urgently with the UHL to provide intensive support following a damning HIQA report of the facility.
Dr. Pat Harold says that ultra sound services at Nenagh will now only be used for in or outpatients, however, he argues that early detection of illness through ultrasound would reduce the need for such care.
He says that given the issues that are present in Limerick at the moment it makes no sense to further clog up that system.
He is calling on the HSE to review this move:
“The place is absolutely jammed as we all know and is getting more dumped in on top of it. There is a time for big and small hospitals.”
” If it’s something like ultrasound it’s small hospital and that makes perfect sense.”
” If Limerick had a lovely ultrasound service that you could slide in and out of we could ring the consultants and be really accessible and be really good prefect , yeah lovely, why not, but when you know it’s not working well maybe you should set up that it is working well and then all the GP referral go in to it.”
