Three cases of cancer were missed by a doctor in University Hospital Kerry, prompting a look-back of over 46,000 thousand radiology scans.

A spokesperson for the HSE says as far as they know, the doctor responsible for the delayed diagnoses is no longer employed by the HSE.

A help-line has been set up for affected patients, and the review should take another eight to 10 weeks.

Juliette Gash reports;

The Hospital has issued the following statement;

"The patients potentially affected by this incident are mostly from Kerry, with some from North Cork and South Limerick. Based on an initial audit of this situation, University Hospital Kerry expects the number of patients who need repeat scans or x-rays to be very low and if there are patients affected by this incident we expect those to be in a significant minority.

This is a precautionary measure.

Where it is judged, that a patient is required, as a precaution, to attend the hospital, we will be contacting them directly, or through their GP or clinician. So far we have contacted 10 patients, as a precaution, and there is no harm arising following the second examination of their cases.

Patients do not need to take any action.

While there should be no need for any immediate concern, University Hospital Kerry has put in place a helpline and an email address that will enable patients to direct any questions they might have.

The helpline number is 1800 742 900.
The email address is UHK.getintouch@hse.ie.

Anyone contacting the hospital by email will be responded to by 5 pm on the next working day.

The hospital has appointed dedicated liaison staff to address individual concerns

Remember this activity relates only to a section of cases between March 2016 and July 2017.