The long-running row over the proposal to remove all blood testing in the State to a single site in Dublin, moved a step closer to compromise yesterday. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has been in conflict with the Southern Health Board over the issue, but both organisations have now agreed to the appointment of independent consultants.
The IBTS has nominated Prof Tommy Soderstrom, medical director of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, while the SHB's nominee is Prof John David Cash, president of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh and former medical director of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service.
Under the agreed terms of reference, they will jointly appoint a third consultant to chair the review group. It will examine all aspects of the proposal and make recommendations as to whether blood testing should continue at the existing Cork centre in St Finbarr's Hospital or another location, or whether, as the IBTS wants, blood testing should be carried out only at its centre in Dublin.
The panel will hold its first meeting early next month and its report will be presented simultaneously to both bodies in April. The final say, however, will rest with the IBTS, which is statutorily required to administer and oversee the provision of blood services in Ireland.
At a news conference in Cork yesterday, the chairman of the IBTS, Mr Michael McLoone, and the chairman of the SHB, Mr Batt O'Keeffe, welcomed the joint approach to solving the dispute.
Medical consultants throughout Munster have lobbied the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, for the retention of the Cork service and have pointed out that the hepatitis C scandal would never have come to light were it not for the vigilance of Cork-based Dr Joan Power and her staff, who in 1994 identified the unusually high level of infection among women recipients of blood transfusions through the then Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB).
In the subsequent row over single site testing, the Cork centre, consultants and members of the SHB have campaigned for new buildings and equipment and an increased role rather than a downgrading of the facilities.
Consultants have argued that, for safety reasons, a reliable back-up service outside of Dublin is vital, and have questioned the decision-making process by which the IBTS came to its conclusion.
Yesterday, Mr McLoone reiterated the position of the IBTS but said the joint approach and the decision to call in distinguished experts marked a major milestone in the relations between the two bodies.