An East Galway GP believes delays for medical scans are completely unacceptable.
Almost 39,000 people have been waiting over 18 months for a health scan, such as an MRI or ultrasound.
There are a total of nearly 239,000 people waiting for a scan as an outpatient in a hospital. That means one in six have been waiting over a year and a half.
Ballygar GP Martin Daly says delays can have serious consequences for patients.
''This is a real problem because we deal with uncertainty every day in general practice, people come in with maybe symptoms that aren't very clear caught at the beginning or the outset of an illness and demand investigation in the form of imaging or in diagnostic scoping. The delay in access to diagnostic tests is a delay in the diagnosis of a potentially serious illness.''
