Mr. Liam Woods:

The Deputy’s analysis of its impact on the hospital system and the primary care environment is that where there are extensive volumes of tests coming from the GP environment into hospitals, that is immediately disabling and I agree with his comments on that. There are other laboratories outside of hospitals that would also potentially be affected, including the blood transfusion service, which is not affected today because it is exempted in dialogue with the Medical Laboratories Scientists Association, MLSA.

The impact is immediate and severe. While there are some derogations in place for urgent and priority work from working with the MLSA, to answer the Deputy's question directly, we were engaging in the WRC yesterday with a view to resolving the issue and we will continue to do so. We cannot approach a situation where there will be two days of action next week without serious consequence for patient safety in the health environment. The challenge before us is to resolve this before we move into further stages of escalation. I am sure members are aware from MLSA statements and from its observations to members that there is a further proposal for three days of action beyond that. Our commitment is to be engaged and directly involved in urgent dialogue to resolve the problem. We have done so and will continue that until we have a resolution.