Vol. 456 No. 6
72 Mr. E. Byrne asked the Minister for Health the steps, if any, he intends taking to encourage general practitioners to take blood samples from patients at their surgeries in order that patients need not spend up to three hours queuing in general hospitals for a blood sample to be taken. [14325/95]
73 Mr. E. Byrne asked the Minister for Health the reason a general practitioner should refer patients to general hospitals for blood tests; the reason general practitioners do not take blood samples and have them conveyed to the hospital thereby saving patients several hours of queuing in busy general hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14326/95]
Limerick East): I propose to take Questions Nos. 72 and 73 together. I understand that many general practitioners take blood samples in their surgeries and organise delivery of these to hospitals for analysis. However, in a situation where the practice is a distance from a hospital, patients often attend the hospital because undue delay in transmission of the blood sample for processing can give rise to inaccurate or misleading results. In order to overcome this problem, a number of health boards are co-operating with general practitioners to organise regular deliveries of blood and other samples to hospitals for analysis. For some specific blood tests, however, it is necessary for the sample to be taken directly at the hospital and analysed immediately.
In line with the objectives of the Health Strategy, health boards are also facilitating general practitioners, through the provision of infrastructural support, in undertaking procedures which have traditionally been provided in the hospital setting and which are more appropriate to the primary care services. I have asked the health boards to give priority to the further development of linkages between general practice and hospital services which should lead to a more accessible and timely service for patients. In this way, I am hopeful that the difficulties highlighted by the Deputy can be surmounted.
