Hospital Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-01
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Colm Burke (FG), Cork North-Central

Concerns have been raised in Cork regarding access for children to MRI scans in circumstances where a general anaesthetic is required. My understanding is that there were outside people coming in to do this work. That all stopped last year. The waiting list has grown substantially and, as a result, there is a concern. Eight consultants signed a letter advising of their concerns. The question now is how we are going to resolve this issue.
Planning was granted for a new paediatric unit at Cork University Hospital, CUH, in 2022. Work on that project has not commenced. Access to certain procedures for children is being restricted as a result. My understanding is that people from outside were being employed to do some of the work involved but that this has stopped.
The other issue that is of concern relates to the outpatient unit that is due to open at Curraheen and whether there will be sufficient staff to operate it. What happened in this instance was that external firms were brought in to do the work. That has stopped, but no additional staff have been taken on to do the work that was being done previously. I have no problem with work being stopped in circumstances where outside contractors were doing it. However, I do have a concern about waiting lists growing substantially.
There is also a question in relation to paediatric services in Cork. There is now major concern about how long a child will have to wait if they need an MRI scan in circumstances where he or she needs a general anaesthetic in order for the scan to take place. The letter to which I refer states that the waiting time could be as long as four years. That is really not acceptable at this stage. What can be done to make sure that there is not an unreasonable waiting time when it comes to getting access to these scans and to resolve the other issues the consultants involved have raised? I hope those issues can be resolved by the HSE, the management at the hospital and the people working at the coalface, namely the consultants, general doctors and nurses. That needs to be looked at. When will action be taken on this matter?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-01