Fears for patients due to backlog of x-ray readings at Louth hospital

Serious concerns have been raised about an apparent backlog in the reading of x-rays taken at the Louth County Hospital since the start of the year, with Sinn Féin’s Ruairí Ó Murchú highlighting information he has received from GP surgeries and patients.

The Dundalk TD said he was contacted on February 8 by a receptionist at a Dundalk GP surgery who told him that patients who had been referred to the Louth County Hospital for x-rays in January had not received their results.

When the receptionist contacted the hospital, she was told there were “at least five weeks of unread x-rays as there was no-one to read them” and was advised to make a complaint to the manager of the Louth/Meath hospitals.

In addition, he was made aware of the problem when a patient revealed how they had been waiting for more than three weeks for the results of an x-ray taken at the hospital.

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Deputy Ó Murchú said he wrote to the HSE on February 8 about the matter asking why there is a backlog and is awaiting an answer.

He said: “The situation is very concerning, particularly for those patients who have been waiting for weeks for the results of their x-rays.

“This situation should not have been allowed to develop to this stage and it is clear that with every passing week, the backlog is getting bigger.

“GPs in Dundalk are left having to try to explain the situation to patients, whose care cannot be progressed until the x-ray is read and there can be serious consequences to delayed care.

“Those in charge have to sort out this problem immediately and ensure there are sufficient and ongoing resources deployed to the hospital in Dundalk so that x-rays are read in a timely manner.”