Deluge of calls after former patients spurred by revelations
MORE than 1,200 people have called the helpline set up by Tallaght Hospital after its X-ray scandal came to light.
A total of 40 lines are now taking calls for 12 hours a day, with over 800 calls recorded in the first day.
Yesterday, former patients continued to contact the helpline with queries about their X-rays and their treatment at the hospital.
Triona Murphy, of the Tallaght Hospital Action Group, said that they had received a large number of calls through members of their group.
"A lot of people are very concerned," she said last night.
Letters
"Many people from this area have been treated there and now they have been left wondering if their X-ray was one of those that wasn't checked properly.
"I have been treated there but it wasn't something very serious.
"But it would make you wonder."
She said she was "very surprised" by the huge number of GP letters which went unopened and unanswered by the hospital for so long.
"I don't understand why the GPs didn't just pick up the phone," she said last night.
The operating times of the helpline for people affected by the controversy are 8am until 8pm.
The numbers for worried former patients to call are: 1800-283059 and 1800-283293.
- Edel Kennedy
Irish Independent
