A COMMUNITY mobile X-ray service has seen 1,527 patient visits in the last year, marking a significant improvement in access to healthcare for older persons in the Mid West in its first year.
In the 12 months to the end of March 2026, the mobile x-ray service made 1,527 patient visits to private nursing homes and community nursing units, community-based disability and mental health services, as well as elderly patients with physical or cognitive impairments who live at home, with family carers, or with HSE supports.
Delivered nationwide Mobile Medical Diagnostics Ltd, the free community mobile X-ray service provided 2,020 X-rays between April 2025 and March 2026, avoiding up to 1,457 hospital presentations and a potential total of 2,914 ambulance trips.
A GP-referral ‘same-day’ service, all types of X-rays are provided, including chest, hip/pelvis, knee, wrist, and shoulder. In urgent cases, for example, if an older resident of a care facility has a fall or requires a chest x-ray, the radiographer will visit and conduct the x-ray in the service-user’s own room, and share a report with the referring doctor within four hours.
Referrals are triaged with the nursing home and GP to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment. The average age of the patients visited was 84 years old.
The majority of the service’s activity in the Mid West from April 2025 to March 2026 was in the counties Clare and Limerick Integrated Healthcare Area (IHA) with 1,193 x-rays completed. In the Limerick City and North Tipperary IHA, a total of 827 x-rays were completed by the mobile service in this time period.