Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 707: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding charges by hospitals for blood tests sent in by general practitioners; if all or most such tests are free if the general practitioner has been paid for consultation; if some changes apply and the scale for different tests; if some tests are free as part of national screening programmes; if all tests for persons registered with haemochromotosis must go to the centre for liver disease in the Mater Hospital, Dublin, at a cost of €120; and if so the reason for same. [33021/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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With the exception of charges paid by certain persons attending accident and emergency departments, no statutory charges are payable by patients receiving public outpatient services. This includes diagnostic tests referred by general practitioners to public hospitals.

General practitioners who hold General Medical Services contracts with the Health Service Executive must not seek or accept money from medical card or GP visit card holders in respect of routine treatment, including the provision of diagnostic tests.

Consultation fees charged to private patients by general practitioners are a matter of private contract between the doctor and the patient. While I have no role in relation to such fees, I would expect general practitioners to have regard to the overall economic situation in setting their fees. The Medical Council's guide to professional conduct and ethics for registered medical practitioners states that the fees charged should be appropriate to the service provided and that patients should be informed of the likely costs before the consultation and treatment.

If the Deputy would let me have further details concerning charges for diagnostics tests for persons with haemochromotosis, I will arrange to have the matter examined.