A final push to secure MRI scanner for Mullingar hospital

The €93,000 still needed to secure an MRI scanner for Mullingar would speed up treatment times for seriously ill patients, say those behind a major fundraising drive.

“We’re €93,000 short for the MRI scanner,” says John McGrath, chairman of the Friends of Regional Hospital Mullingar committee, who have been coordinating fundraising for the project.

“Acutely aware” of the burden facing people, John says as a committee they have only had to say “thank you” to the people of Mullingar thus far in the fundraising process, and underlines that this will be the “final push” for funds so that the Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar can finally install the MRI scanning machine, which will significantly reduce wait times for patients, and increase bed turnover and unburden the financial resources available to the hospital

“When we priced it six years ago, we were given an estimate of €850,000, so we thought we were being pragmatic in setting out target for €950k,” said John.

“However, the total is now €1.2 million, €239,884 of that is VAT – which is refundable, so we have a shortfall of €93k and we really need to make the final push to get it over the line.”

Perfect storm

“We’re in a day and age now where any decent hospital should have its own MRI scanner, and at the moment Mullingar hospital is dependent on both public and private MRI services for its patients,” says paediatrician, Prof Michael O’Grady, who explains why an MRI scanner is so important for Mullingar.

“If you had to pay for an MRI scan out of your own pocket, it would cost between €250 and €300, privately. It’s €1,000 for a hospital inpatient bed. So, saving a night in hospital would pay for four private scans. But it’s more than that – it’s getting a slot, again if you need an urgent scan, sometimes the only way to get a timely scan is to keep a patient in hospital, but because you can’t access the scans, then they stay in hospital for lot longer, at a cost to the hospital, which is under significant pressure for beds.

The lack of MRI services also affects recruitment.

“The only MRI scanner publicly available to us is Tullamore, but there’s obviously a lot of demand for that and even though we can sometimes get scans at it, there are times we need a scan quicker than they can provide the service for us,” said Prof O’Grady.

“It means the hospital then has to put its hand in its pocket to fund private MRIs, so patients are sent to Charter Medical in Ballinderry, or Clane or elsewhere.

“Apart from the cost of the MRI scan, the hospital has to transfer the patient, so you’re talking about ambulance costs, as well as the cost of sending staff members to accompany the patient.

“As you know, staff shortages are fairly common now in the HSE, and even access to ambulances can be difficult. So, it really is a perfect storm at the moment in trying to send patients for scans,” Prof O’Grady said.

“We know trolley numbers have increased significantly in 2022. If a patients need a scan during their inpatient hospital stay, then they will sit in a hospital bed until they can get that scan. So, access to an onsite MRI should result in a quicker service for those patients and get patients on a clear pathway of care at an earlier stage and improve turnover of hospital beds.

“The other area that having our own MRI scanner would be beneficial is for paediatric patients. I’m a paediatrician and MRIs are daunting experiences for young kids. Older kids are able to lie still in a scanner, so we can usually get them scanned in Tullamore, but you’re looking are lengthy delays.

“Younger kids or kids with special needs usually need station or general anaesthetic to have an MRI scan. But there is no paediatrics in Tullamore, so the patients that would need a general aesthetic for an MRI would need to go to the one of the Dublin children’s hospitals.

“There’s a huge access block there in terms of even trying to get a bed, and really long waiting lists for general anaesthesia. At the moment, the wait time for an MRI under general anaesthetic in one of the Dublin children’s hospitals is about two years, but we’re booking these scans for patients, and we’re getting provisional dates of 2034 now!

“What happens then if we have a young patient who needs an MRI is we actually have to send the child to Dublin for the rest of their care and obviously that’s huge upheaval for the rest of the family. Instead of tipping in and out the road to Mullingar, they have to up sticks and move to Dublin for the rest of their stay.

“If and when we finally get an MRI scanner in Mullingar, it will be a massive improvement for both adults and children.”

“It influences staff recruitment as well,” adds John McGrath. “We all know there are consultancy vacancies around the country at the moment. If you’re advertising a post in Mullingar, that consultant is going to look at what supports and services are available coming in to a new post. If you have a hospital up the road with an MRI, and one here with none, which one do you think they’ll chose…

A series of fundraising events are to be run over the coming months ahead of the completion of the new unit at Mullingar hospital which will house the scanner, and which is due for completion in the first quarter of 2023.

“Between now and February, we’re on the campaign to raise as much of that €93,000 as possible,” said John.

To donate, go to Friends of Mullingar Hospital on idonate.ie, or check out Facebook or the website.