Calls for new blood test centre

THE Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) was urged yesterday to move immediately to provide a new upgraded blood testing centre for Cork recommended by an international panel of experts.

The call was made by Batt O'Keeffe, chairman of the Southern Health Board, who also pressed Health Minister Micheál Martin to provide the necessary funding for the centre.

The board yesterday welcomed and accepted the main recommendation that testing in Cork should be retained and developed.

The panel of three experts said it was vital to have each centre capable of acting as a back-up to the other.

In particular, they believe that the IBTS headquarters should not be located at either regional centre, thus dispelling any impression that either is the national centre.

Deputy O'Keeffe said SHB members and the medical profession in Munster had serious reservations about the proposal to centralise testing in Dublin.

Their two concerns were:

The quality and safety of blood and blood products.

Public confidence in the blood system as, without this, the level of donors would be affected.

Mr O'Keeffe said the new centre would have more independence and would have a major managerial role to play in the delivery of service.

He said the "difference of opinion" between the SHB and the IBTS over plans to end testing in Cork had gone on for more than three years and had taken up considerable time and energy.

"The SHB and the IBTS must now move forward and build on the new improved relations that have developed between us over the last year," he said.

He was satisfied that there was sufficient goodwill on all sides to move forward in harmony with a clear focus on ensuring the highest possible quality blood system in the country.

The chairman of the board of the IBTS, Michael McLoone, said the board was already committed to a new centre in Cork and a design brief was already well advanced that would greatly assist in assessing the implications of adding testing facilities.

The report recommends the new centre be located in the grounds of an academic institution. The SHB have already offered a site to the IBTS in the grounds of University Hospital Cork.

It is understood that the blood bank is considering six green field sites and two premises, lying vacant, are currently being considered. No budget has yet been made for the project and the Department of Health will be expected to provide the funding.

The three international blood experts Prof Tommy Soderstrom from Sweden, Prof John David Cash from Scotland and Prof Thomas F Zuck of the US, found that the general blood system in Ireland was safe even though significant management and organisational weaknesses were apparent.

In particular, they recommended that a computer system integrating Cork and Dublin operations nationwide be implemented as a matter of urgency.

They stressed that the highest operational priority should be given to functions relating to safety, such as national deferral registries, integration of donation testing results, bag-product labelling and lot release.