Thousands of patient radiology images missing from Galway Clinic

Thousands of radiology images are currently unavailable to staff and patients at the Galway Clinic, IMT has learned.

The images, which have been unavailable since last month, were performed off-site earlier this year by a third party to whom the clinic outsources radiology scans. It is unclear how long the third party has been contracted to perform the service for.

The Cervical Cancer debacle was caused by a similar problem when such work was out-sourced to a third party by Irish clinics.

In a statement issued to IMT, the Galway Clinic said that the issue arose from a technical problem.

“Late last month, the radiology imaging system at the hospital, which is outsourced to a third party, experienced a technical problem,” the statement read. “As a result, some patient images were taken offline and were unavailable live on the system.”

Both the hospital and third party say they are currently working to resolve the issue. The Galway Clinic said that no patients have been adversely impacted by the missing images, as clinical reports of the studies are still accessible and available for clinical review.

However, doctors cannot currently use the images as a reference. Likewise, patients cannot see their own images.

The radiology department at Galway Clinic added they are putting in place further mitigation measures to minimise any impact on patient safety, the statement added. The third party, the Clinic says, is “working around the clock with the hospital to resolve the issue urgently” to ensure that all images are available on the system.