Today I raise the chronic shortage of radiographers and the related fragile state of our diagnostic imaging capacity. As the Taoiseach is probably aware, the HSE has acknowledged that radiology and radiation therapy departments remain under-resourced, with waiting lists for diagnostic scans continuing to grow. We saw earlier this year a report on RTÉ showing that, despite over 200 radiography graduates qualifying annually, many are being forced to emigrate because of appointments not being made. This is not just poor workforce planning; it could be called a misuse of public finds, wasting money training professionals who we then lose abroad while we scramble to import more. The HSE radiology workforce report outlines workforce projections and training requirements and recommends increasing the radiology trainee intake from 39 in 2025 to 75 in 2028, highlighting that Ireland's radiologist numbers per capita are substantially below European norms. This report was prepared to feed into the broader national radiology strategy and while the Minister for Health has confirmed a strategy is being developed and under consideration, we have not yet seen the finer details. Then, of course, we have our diagnostic imaging capacity problem - a shortage of machines. Where machines go in, that is only half the story. I want to put a human face on one element of this to explain. A constituent wrote to me. He had just had surgery for prostate cancer this month but twice now his PET scans have been cancelled because the batch of radiation required for the scans failed. This happened because the HSE and the Department of Health rely on a single provider and when that supply chain breaks down, no patient in the country can get their scan. This is not an isolated incident. The European Medicines Agency has warned that radiopharmaceutical supply chains across the EU are fragile, with occasional shortages already reported in other member states. The OECD confirms that Europe's reliance on a small number of reactors and suppliers for specific isotopes creates a systemic risk. In Ireland, we are directly exposed to these vulnerabilities and we have no contingency plan. Imagine the stress. The scans people have these conditions are not optional. It is the way of knowing whether or not the cancer has spread beyond the prostate. It determines the course of treatment and cancelling it not once but twice leaves the patient in limbo facing surgery without the full picture. The person who wrote to me said, "I am one of God knows how many people experiencing this stress, yet it is never heard about. The teams I have been dealing with are phenomenal but they are also been put under huge pressure"’. It is not only related to systemic failure in terms of prostate cancer. It also relates to other areas, such as breast cancer, for example, because PET scans used for staging in treatment and planning in breast cancer require radiopharmaceuticals, such as fluorodeoxyglucose, FDG, as well, which are isotope dependent. This needs to be addressed.

Sentiment score: -0.17

What the Taoiseach did not go into was what contingency plans are in place or whether he can commit to putting contingency plans in place to ensure that patients are not left without scans because of single point of failure. The diagnostic imaging is hugely important in modern medicine but without some sort of action to have a separate contingency plan in place when the radiation fails, will we have these lists lengthening and lengthening? It is not a good or an efficient way to run a health service. Obviously, I take on board that more machines are being put in place but we still have a situation where qualified radiographers who we have paid for through the system and who want to live and work in Ireland are being forced to go abroad. Like teachers and other professionals, once they go abroad, it is hard to get them back. It is a two-pronged thing. It is about putting the staff in place with secure long-term jobs and about making sure we have a plan B for when we are missing the isotope provision. We need a second supplier.

Sentiment score: -0.02