Senator Prendergast wishes to raise a matter of concern.
Business of Joint Committee.
I have a concern about the fact that the HSE recently awarded Quest Diagnostics the contract for the management of cervical smear tests. This is a US company and I have serious concerns about the way the process was managed. The tendering requirements made it impossible for Irish hospitals to compete and the only laboratories which could qualify for selection had to have an overall volume of 25,000 tests and a ten-day turnaround time for results. They also had to be accredited, which is right and proper and I have no difficulty with that aspect of the process. The tendering requirements were put in place by the HSE which was fully aware that most Irish hospitals had yet to go through the accreditation process. Thanks to the lack of funding, laboratories have insufficient staff to process cervical smear tests within ten days. The HSE knew that only one or two laboratories in Ireland actually processed more than 25,000 tests per annum. The HSE phrased and framed the requirements for this service to favour Quest Diagnostics, as the HSE would undoubtedly have had advance knowledge of the methods and turnover in Irish hospitals. I seriously question the fairness of the process and accept the argument put by several laboratories and other health care professionals that the tendering process effectively set Irish hospitals up for failure. The HSE knowingly excluded St. Luke's Hospital in Rathgar by ensuring the closing date for tenders was ten days prior to its receiving accreditation. An appeal was lodged by the hospital but was refused.
The impact of this decision on patient care is enormous. The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, favours the multidisciplinary approach to patient care dictated by best practice and I agree with her on that. However, she has effectively ensured that, by outsourcing cervical cytology, multidisciplinary input is eliminated. Quest Diagnostics has a different measuring tool for processing smears and has already increased its charges on the basis of additional accreditation required by this country. It will not save us money and we will not get a quality service in budgetary terms.
We need clarity how the decision was arrived at and I ask the Minister to provide the House with a comprehensive response. We cannot afford to lose Irish jobs and de-skill laboratory scientists, several of whom are in training and will not be able to get jobs in the future because we will not have an Irish laboratory that can deal with the task. We should be able to provide the service in Ireland and there is no reason the Minister cannot set up a centre of excellence, with due regard to the present high standards to which Irish laboratories adhere. Perhaps we could invite Mr. Tony O'Brien to come before the committee to discuss the matter.
I thank the Chairman for giving me the opportunity to raise this issue because it is very important.
I will go along with the Senator's request.
I support Senator Prendergast in everything she said. I have received considerable correspondence on the issue. A number of hospitals in Ireland are accredited and a number will be accredited in the very near future. The volume of tests required seems to have been the main problem in squeezing the said hospitals out of the system It means we will lose very valuable skills in which people are currently being trained.
I do not know if there is anything we can do, now that the contract has been awarded, but it is a two-year contract so we can certainly do something to make sure Irish providers of the service can take over, preferably in less than two years' time. I do not know what the technicalities are but we should do whatever we can.
It is essential to get clarity on this issue. The hospitals were not accredited when the contract was awarded but what are the details of the contract? Can it be altered? Mr. O'Brien is probably the only person who can answer that.
We will invite Mr. O'Brien to join the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, and Professor Drumm when they come before the committee.
The joint committee went into private session at 12.55 p.m. and adjourned at 13.05 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 May 2008.