Patient rushed to Dublin as Galway hospital’s MRI switched off

A man who suffered a serious blow to the head after a fall was transferred to Dublin by ambulance because the MRI scanner at University Hospital Galway is turned off at weekends

The MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine that was needed to scan Corofin resident Trevor Martin is available at UHG – but it is only operational Monday to Friday and is not available weekends.

Mr Martin, who had been airlifted to UHG after falling, was subsequently transferred by ambulance to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin where he received the MRI scan in the early hours of a Sunday morning last month.

Two ambulance drivers, a doctor and nurse, accompanied Mr Martin to Beaumont where he received his MRI scan. A team of surgeons was also put on stand-by at Beaumont ‘just in case’.

It is estimated it could have cost €40,000 extra to have the scan in Dublin compared with UHG.

He was transferred back to UHG the following day, after getting the scan, and is now recovering from his injuries.

The scan found that Mr Martin suffered “serious contusions” when he fell and banged his head, neck and shoulders while out playing golf at a course in County Clare.

When he arrived by helicopter at UHG, a CAT scan and x-rays were carried out. It was decided that an MRI – a more specialised scan – was also needed.

Mr Martin’s wife, Yvonne, was told, however, that the MRI scan could be turned on at UHG but there wouldn’t be any staff available to read the results because it was the weekend. The incident occurred on the Saturday of August Bank Holiday, and so the MRI machine would not have been operational, they were told, until the following Tuesday.

“It is scandalous,” said Mr Martin. “This is a centre of excellence and it is the centre for trauma in the West of Ireland, yet the MRI machine, from what we can gather, is not available at weekends. He did say that they could get the machine turned on but that they wouldn’t be able to get anyone to read the results.”

“I’m not complaining about what happened to me. What happened to me was an accident. I’m just using it as an example – what happens if there is a pile-up on the motorway at the weekend and there is a need for MRI scans? It just doesn’t make sense to send people to Dublin.

“I reckon they spent between €35,000 and €40,000 just on me to get the MRI scan in Beaumont. The point I’m trying to make is for that amount of money, surely it would pay someone to be on stand-by in Galway at weekends to read the MRI scans.”

Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel