No Date Yet for MRI Scanner at Monaghan Hospital as Design Team Due by Year End, Minister Tells Cavan-Monaghan TDs

Patients in Monaghan will have to wait a while yet to find out when an MRI scanner will be up and running at Monaghan Hospital, after the Minister for Health told two Cavan-Monaghan TDs that it is "premature" to put a timeframe on the project.

The answers came in written replies in the Dáil on Thursday, 15 October, to Sinn Féin deputies Cathy Bennett and Matt Carthy. Deputy Bennett asked when it is intended that an MRI machine will be operational at the Monaghan town hospital. Deputy Carthy asked more broadly what plans are in place to expand CT and MRI scanning in Cavan and Monaghan, whether either type of scanner could be located at the Monaghan site, and what the timeframe and costs would be.

What has been approved so far

In both replies, the Minister said she had been advised by the HSE that a Strategic Healthcare Investment Framework, known as a SHIF, for a proposed MRI at Monaghan Hospital has been approved. That is an early step in the HSE's process for capital projects rather than a decision to buy and install a scanner.

The next stage, according to the replies, is the appointment of a design team, which the HSE expects to happen by the end of this year. After that a preliminary business case, along with a project scope and brief, will be drawn up, and the proposal will then have to pass through the approval gates set out in the State's Infrastructure Guidelines.

"Until the scope and brief of the proposal have been determined and the proposal reviewed in line with Infrastructure Guidelines it is premature to establish a definitive timeframe," the Minister said. No cost estimate was given.

One scanner for two counties

At present Cavan and Monaghan Hospital, which the HSE runs as a single hospital across two sites, has just one MRI scanner, and it is in Cavan General Hospital. Access is prioritised according to clinical need. The Minister said an MRI scanner in Monaghan "will provide additional diagnostic capacity for the region".

There was less encouraging news on CT scanning. Patients use the two high-throughput CT scanners at Cavan General, and the Minister told Deputy Carthy she had been advised that there are no plans to seek another CT scanner for Cavan and Monaghan Hospital, as "clear clinical pathways exist that support the region".

Investment figures

The Minister also set out figures on spending at the Monaghan site. Its budget has more than doubled, from €8.4 million in 2020 to €17 million in 2026. The hospital now has 60 inpatient beds and 20 day-case beds, up by 19 and seven respectively since 2020, and staffing has risen by 81 whole-time equivalent posts since December 2020, an increase of more than 79 per cent.

Across both sites, the combined Cavan and Monaghan budget for 2026 is over €167 million, which the Minister said is up by more than 53 per cent since 2020.

What it means locally

For now, anyone in Monaghan who needs an MRI will continue to be referred to Cavan or elsewhere. The written answers do not say when the design team will report or how long the business case stage will take.

The appointment of the design team before the end of December will be the first concrete sign of whether the project is moving, and local TDs can be expected to keep asking. Monaghan Brief will report on any update from the HSE.