Just as the explosive news that over 57,000 x-rays were not reviewed by a radiologist for over four years in the Tallaght Hospital, it comes to light that Mary Harney has jetted off to New Zealand a week early for her St Patrick’s Day trip.

This morning in the Dail, Enda Kenny said that Harney was in New Zealand. Cowen responded by insisting that she was there on government business.

Mary Harney granted just a single radio interview to Morning Ireland this morning.

What we know about the case so far

• One person whose x-ray was not read by a radiologist has died, another is seeking treatment.
• From the MI interview, the case  appears to have been highlighted after a change in guard at the head of Tallaght Hospital. Prof Conlon, the new head of hospital became aware of the problem last Summer.
• Harney knew about the problem back in December. Note the gap in months.
• Harney said she found about about the full scale of the problem yesterday, yet she said that the problem was “not a huge scandal” on Morning Ireland this morning as it only amounted to 6% of all x-rays taken in the period. Another three month gap.

Media and signals

Cowen was speaking in the Dail about putting measures in place to expedit dealing with the matter, but he seems to contrary Harney’s insistence that this was not a huge scandal. Distancing before a reshuffle?

Harney has only given that interview to Morning Ireland on the matter. Newstalk was unable to secure her for comment. Is that government business keeping her tied up?

Confidence in the Tallaght Hospital

On the back of misdiagnosis scandals at Ennis Regional Hospital and Portlaoise’s Midlands Regional Hospital and the centralisation of cancer diagnosis and care services in centres of excellence around the country, the mind boggles on how one of the biggest hospitals in the country could treat tens of thousands of patients this way for years.

Not only that. Tallaght Hospital is a teaching hospital. If the practise of not reviewing x-rays by a qualified radiologist was occurring at the hospital for years, what other practices of patient care were imparted to young student doctors? Can we be confident that the next generation of doctors taught there?

Tallaght General Hospital is rereading the x-rays not reviewed by a radiologist and the HSE says that it expects to complete the work for May. This leaves not just the 57,000 patients whose scans were not reviewed in the lurch but shakes the confidence of the hundreds of thousands of people that have had scans at Tallaght General Hospital in recent years.

On Timing

Timing is incredibly important here. Prof Conlon said he was informed of patients death yesterday at 4:30. Harney admitted she only knew about the scale of the problem yesterday. She admitted this morning that extra staff had been assigned to re-review patients’ x-rays. Would we have heard about this case if that patient had not died?

In some ways, the is the most shocking part of the scandal is the systemic foot-dragging in the HSE from X-ray to oversight in diagnosis and ministerial management. Foot-dragging at these different levels of the HSE is more than confidence-shaking, it’s an indictment of serious breaches in the most basic of parts of patient care - prevention. The modern Hippocratic Oath says “I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.” Indeed.

The HSE has established a helpline for patients and their families that are concerned about their treatment at Tallaght General Hospital.  Information and help is available on 1800 283 059. The helpline is open from 9am to 5pm.