Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will certainly speak to the hospital manager myself about the matter this week to get a better fix on the situation. There are many ways in which we can get on top of the backlog, one being the transfer of samples to other laboratories. I will inquire as to why that is not happening at an adequate pace. The other way is to transfer staff to the laboratory from other laboratories. Generally, it is easier to move samples than to move staff for obvious reasons. Sometimes it requires a little bit of both. As the Deputy acknowledged, the risk is low because the samples are not urgent but, as I have acknowledged, the risk is not negligible. I do not think it is up to the standard of care that we seek to provide as a Government that anyone should wait months for the result of a scan or a laboratory test and we are going to get on top of this.

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