Ultrasound scans that should have been performed within two weeks of being requested took up to six months at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, a consultant radiologist told a fitness-to-practise inquiry this morning.
Dr Deirdre Lynch said there was only one sonographer working at the hospital when Sharon McEneaney was being treated there in 2008, but the hospital needed four or five.
Ms McEneaney, from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, died of cancer in April 2009 after delays in her treatment at the hospital.
She first attended Our Lady of Lourdes in October 2007, then aged 29, but she was not treated for cancer until July 2008 and only had a biopsy after the intervention of former TD Dr Rory O'Hanlon in late June 2008.
Her consultant, Dr Etop Sampson Akpan, has had 38 allegations of professional misconduct brought against him by the Medical Council.
Giving evidence this morning, Dr Lynch said she carried out a CT scan on Ms McEneaney in January 2008. She reported that a biopsy should be carried out and there should be further discussion on the case. No biopsy was performed until July 2008, but an ultrasound scan was performed in April.
She told the tribunal she believed that ultrasound was carried out on foot of a request made when Ms McEneaney was seen at the hospital in November 2007 that should have been cancelled.
The November request had been prioritised at level two, which meant Ms McEneaney needed the ultrasound within two weeks, Dr Lynch said. At the time, the waiting list for priority two was six months.
"Radiology is significantly under staffed, we have one stenographer when we really should have four or five," she told the inquiry.
The hearing continues.
