Shane McEntee (Meath, Fine Gael)
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Question 90: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the person responsible for highlighting new or existing protocols to the medical and administration staff of hospitals in regard to inter-hospital transfer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35542/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The HSE has advised my Department that the decision to transfer an individual patient from one hospital to another is a matter for the attending clinician and his or her team. Patient safety is the overriding factor in any inter-hospital transfer.

There is no national protocol governing inter-hospital patient transfers. Any such protocol could only outline general principles and would have to be developed further at local level taking account of regional and local considerations.

A number of HSE hospital networks have developed protocols for specific circumstances such as the transfer of seriously injured trauma patients to specific units and how to deal with situations in which a woman in advanced labour presents to a hospital without an obstetric unit.

The hospital network in the north-east has done considerable work in relation to this issue and has prepared a very detailed document. This highlights the need, in drawing up protocols, to take account of the services available locally in a hospital and those available regionally within a hospital network. This document is being circulated to all hospital networks and I have asked the HSE to ensure that all networks review their existing protocols in the light of this document and develop new ones as appropriate.