Decisions must be implemented

A major rift over blood testing, caused

For more than three years the proposal to move the only other testing centre in the country from Cork gave rise to justifiable concerns about patient care and considerably undermined confidence in the blood service.

Now, a three-man international panel, agreed by both the IBTS and the Southern Health Board, has recommended not only that dual site testing be retained in Ireland, but there should be an enhanced role for the facility in Cork.

The outcome of their deliberations is a vindication for common sense and the case persistently made by medical professionals in the field, supported by an Oireachtas Health Committee, of the importance of retaining a second blood testing site outside of Dublin.

The value of a second site was graphically illustrated several years ago when the hepatitis C scandal was discovered by personnel in the unit in St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork.

That caused relations to become strained between the two centres, and the tension increased with the attempt to move all testing to the centralised site in Dublin.

What remains now is for the IBTS to accept the recommendations and implement them so that the main focus from now on is to provide the very best service for the people who need it.