GPs concerned over lengthy delays at blood testing service

GPs are demanding answers as to why they have been unable to send their patients’ blood samples for testing following a major IT failure at one of the country’s biggest hospitals last month.

It has been nearly three weeks since computer problems arose in the laboratory information management system at Cork University Hospital.

The centralised system supports services at CUH, Kerry General, Mallow, and Bantry hospitals, as well as the Mercy Hospital’s blood transfusion lab, and is also where GPs send their patients’ samples for testing.

The HSE subsequently wrote to GPs to ask that they only send blood samples in cases of emergencies.

A spokesperson for the HSE said while the problem with the lab’s IT system was resolved last week, there is some backlog that is expected to take a number of days to work through.

Cork city-based GP Dr John Sheehan said while such a request is an inconvenience over the course of a few days, the prolonged delay is a cause for concern.

While the most obvious impact has been a delay in getting patients tested for illnesses, Dr Sheehan said that it also has an impact on patients with existing conditions that may need changes to their medication.

“Patients with thyroid problems or who are on anti-hypertension medication, for example, need constant monitoring and adjustments to their medications on an ongoing basis. We can’t make these adjustments until we have tested their blood. This is where it becomes a problem. The whole point is that we monitor, investigate and treat patients. We can’t do that without tests.”

Dr Sheehan is also a Fianna Fáil councillor on Cork City Council, and is one of the local authority’s representatives on the HSE South Health Forum, a regional body that meets to discuss the provision of health services in the area.

The forum is to meet later this month, and Dr Sheehan said he intends to ask the HSE why the system crashed, why there was not an adequate back-up plan in place, how the HSE plans to avoid such issues arising again in future and if the existing systems need further infrastructural investment.

A spokesperson for the Irish College of General Practitioners said that the issue was to be discussed at a routine meeting of Cork GPs last night.