Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Jim Daly, to the House and wish him every success in his new brief. It is a very proud occasion for him and his wife and family, including his extended family. Like Deputy Daly, there were 11 in my family and I am the baby of the 11. It is great to see a west Cork man here. I am delighted he has been successful. Senator Byrne has four minutes to outline her case.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, to the House and congratulate him formally on his appointment yesterday. I am delighted for him and wish him the best of luck for the future.

I raise this matter to call on University Hospital Limerick to provide access for general practitioners to the blood clinic over five days a week. Currently, there is access only on four days a week, namely, Monday to Thursday, but I have heard from a number of general practitioners that this is causing a problem. Where a patient presents in a practice on a Monday to Thursday morning, bloods are taken and the results are back in the afternoon. The doctor will then know whether the patient needs to be sent to the hospital. On a Friday, however, that access to the blood clinic is not available to general practitioners. If a patient attends on a Friday, there is no way to check the bloods for various issues, including anaemia. As such, there is no choice but to send the patient to the accident and emergency department.

There is a chronic situation in University Hospital Limerick. The Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, was in Limerick recently to open the new accident and emergency department, which was very welcome. It was great to see it. While there were very few people on trolleys that day, what is happening now is that people are being sent in on a Friday because GPs cannot check their bloods. As such, some people are being sent unnecessarily and taking up places which should go to those who really need them. Some of the time, these people may simply have been feeling tired and have no other issues. Until that is checked, however, they have to sit in the accident and emergency department, taking up time from those with more serious illnesses. I am asking for the Department to intervene to see if the blood clinic can open on a Monday to Friday basis.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Sa cead áit, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas as ucht an fáilte. I thank the Cathaoirleach very much for his welcome and his very generous and kind words and I thank Senator Byrne for raising this important issue, which I am replying to on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris.

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on this matter and to ease the Senator's concerns about blood testing facilities for general practitioners at University Hospital Limerick, or UHL. I am pleased to inform the Senator that UHL provides blood testing facilities for GPs on a Monday to Friday basis. The UHL pathology department's laboratories have always accepted and tested GP bloods and, of course, other specimens, on week days. Defined drop off and delivery times for specimens are in place to provide a streamlined process and to allow for the timely processing and testing of patient samples. Specimen acceptance criteria times are Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The defined specimen drop off and delivery times allow UHL laboratory staff sufficient time to process specimens according to their priority. The House will no doubt appreciate that all internal acute hospital clinical specimens are essentially prioritised due to the nature of acutely ill patients. GP and primary care specimens are then processed, within acceptable timeframes, so as to prevent any compromise of test results due to any testing delays.

I acknowledge that the Senator may be concerned about the status of urgent specimens required by GPS but I have been assured by UHL that all urgent and critical GP specimens are accepted by UHL laboratories outside routine working hours. However, in such circumstances, it is necessary for the referring clinicians to make contact with laboratory staff prior to the delivery of the specimen. In addition to the blood testing facilities operating on a Monday to Friday basis, I have been informed that Shannondoc provides out of hours medical care to patients throughout the mid-west region, and as such, has blood testing facilities. The Shannondoc GP courier specimen collection service recently extended its service from three to four days. The service, which previously operated on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, has now been extended to include Mondays. While this extension of operating hours has obviously resulted in a corresponding increase of some 20% to 30% in the number of GP specimens received by the UHL laboratories, I am delighted that UHL has been in a position to respond to this increase in demand.

It is a fact that any further extension of services at UHL laboratories will increase the financial demands on the hospital in terms of staff costs, test reagents, kits and consumables. It is important, therefore, that any proposal to increase service provision should be evaluated in light of the priorities of UHL and the provision of the best service to patients. Finally, I note the very considerable investment in UHL in recent years. As the Senator noted, it was only last week that the Minister, Deputy Harris, officially opened its new state-of-the-art emergency department which represents a major landmark in the provision of patient services in the mid-west.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. The point the GP is making is it is restricted times on a Friday and the Shannon Doc only operates Monday to Thursday so there is a shorter timeframe. I understand extending the time would create greater costs on the hospital, but if the service were extended, it would help to reduce the numbers going in through accident and emergency. Perhaps it is something that can be taken on board.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I will certainly take it back to the Minister. The Senator made a valid point that if it places additional pressure on the accident and emergency department and results in extra admissions, it does not make financial sense. I will certainly report back to the Minister and have it looked into for the Senator. I will see she gets a response.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I have no doubt there will be bonfires blazing for him in west Cork tomorrow night. Do not do too much damage to the environment in the process.