University hospital Kerry patients affected by review: helpline opened this morning
As of this morning, a helpline has opened for worried patients of University Hospital Kerry, who may be worried about scan results amid concerns about patient safety at the hospital.
A review is being conducted of some 46,000 cat scans, x-rays, and ultrasounds following the notification of three Serious Reportable Events (SRE’s) during the course of the summer.
Scans of some 26,000 people are involved and in some cases two to three scans per person.
The dedicated helpline that has been set up will operate during office hours Monday to Friday.
The review covers scans that were conducted between the period of March 2016 to July 2017, with the review commencing in October of this year.
Up until last Friday, 18,000 files have been reviewed with the South/South West Hospital Group (SSWHG) and they stated that a very small number of these files “have resulted in a patient call back and were purely precautionary”.
Twenty one patients so far have been called back for ‘repeat imaging’ but none of these patients required any further treatment or follow up.
The group expects the process to be completed within eight to ten weeks.
The clinical director of University Hospital, Kerry had said that the problems can be traced back to a single employee.
“The review was launched based on findings of the delayed diagnosis in a small number of cases, which prompted the management team in University Hospital Kerry to look at the work of one individual staff member”.
As a result of raised concerns by some general practitioners and consultants, a serious incident management team was put in place.
Any patients deemed to require urgent intervention will be contacted immediately before the full audit concludes.
19/12/2017
Relevant articles
Employee suspended as University Hospital Kerry conducts review of over 46,000 files
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Our office advises patients and families who have been affected by a failure in the medical care they received. Related information is available on our general practitioner, delayed diagnosis pages.
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