Staffing shortages in the Irish health system are worsening. University College Dublin recently cancelled training courses in computed tomography and mammogram for radiographers because the college does not have enough lecturers to meet the demand.

A shortage of radiographers with the necessary postgraduate training has led to a reduced capacity of many Irish hospitals to do computed tomography and has limited the country's breast cancer screening programme to women aged under 65 years.

At the same time, there are warnings that maternity services across the country are nearing breakdown because of the number of vacancies of both …