Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

——on foot of a request from the Midland Health Board in November 2002, subject to conditions such as triple assessment.

On the new procedure in place, letters fall into different categories and, as is the case with referral letters from doctors to hospitals, serious safety issues will arise. As Minister for Health and Children, safety must be a priority for me. This is the reason for many of the measures we have taken, for example, establishing HIQA. Traditionally, the chief medical officer has five deputy medical officers working with him in the Department's medical team. I asked the Secretary General to ensure the medical team is involved in giving a first view of letters in which doctors, patients or others raise safety issues because they are the best people to advise me of the priority that should be given to particular letters. This system has been established and is a new departure for the medical team which until now has not been involved in these types of issues. This initiative is the least we can do on foot of events in Portlaoise.

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