A NUMBER of out-of-date ultrasound scanners are still being used at hospitals in the northeast despite a warning to the HSE this year that they required urgent replacement.
The warning was issued by consultant obstetrician Dr Seosamh Ó Coigligh following a review of the scanning equipment in the aftermath of a miscarriage misdiagnosis at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
He made it clear in a letter last March 15th that the situation regarding scanning equipment in the early pregnancy assessment unit and maternity department in Louth/Meath hospitals was “at crisis levels” as he could only stand over two of the seven ultrasound scan machines across hospitals in Drogheda, Navan and Dundalk.
In a letter to Des O’Flynn, group general manager of the Louth/Meath hospital group for the HSE, he said that ultrasound machines should be replaced on a five-yearly basis but four of the seven machines in his area were “over 10 years old and need to be replaced”.
Of the three other in-date scanners, one was “faulty”, meaning he could “stand over” only two of the seven scanners in the hospital group.
The HSE said yesterday two scanners at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda had been replaced by rented machines.
Those which still needed to be replaced include one each at clinics in Navan and Dundalk despite the warning from Dr Ó Coigligh in March that the scanners at these clinics “should not be in use given their age and quality of image”. He added: “We urgently require replacement machines for these areas.”
The correspondence was released to this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act.
The HSE told The Irish Times it was actively pursuing the replacement of further machines in the Louth/Meath hospital group and a plan was being put in place to progress the replacements.
“All the scanners in Louth/Meath hospitals are under warranty and maintained. The replacement of scanners are prioritised based on the age and appropriateness of the machines,” it said.
“Scanners in place in maternity units and early pregnancy units are maintained by the hospital, similar to all diagnostic imaging devices and equipment across the healthcare system.”
The recent controversy over misdiagnosed miscarriages at hospitals across the State began in June when it emerged a scanner which produced suboptimal images was being used at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in July 2009 when Melissa Redmond from Donabate, Dublin, was wrongly told the eight-week-old baby in her womb was dead.
When she asked her GP for a second scan before taking an abortifacient, she was found to be carrying a healthy baby who was born this year. The scanner used in her case has been replaced by a rented one.