Major disruption expect at Portlaoise Hospital as lab scientists strike

Planned industrial action by laboratory scientists will result in significant disruptions at Portlaoise Hospital on Wednesday, the HSE has warned. 

The industrial action by the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association(MLSA) is the first in an escalating planned series they say is being taken to “address a 20-year pay disparity issue, the shortage of medical scientists, and the lack of career progression” for laboratory scientists. 

According to the MLSA it has become clear that without taking industrial action, “we cannot achieve our longstanding goal and rightful expectation of parity with clinical biochemists, as recommended by the 2001 Expert Group and accepted by the HSE and Department of Health.”

The HSE is warning of significant disruption and service delays in hospitals on Wednesday, May 18  from 8am to 8pm due to the action.

“This will lead to the cancellation of many inpatient and day-case elective procedures and hospital outpatient appointments across the country. All routine GP testing services will be suspended on the day. Some limited services will continue but unfortunately there will be wide scale disruption to patients.”
On Tuesday, the HSE said: “Emergency Departments are already experiencing the knock on effect of this action today as GPs cannot send routine lab tests to hospitals and instead have had to refer patients directly to emergency departments. This is leading to delays for patients with non-urgent care needs and such delays are expected to continue tomorrow. The HSE is continuing to seek further derogations relating to patients in hospitals on Wednesday and for priority scopes.”

Emergency Departments will continue as always to prioritise the treatment of the sickest and most urgent patients, the HSE continued. 

Since Monday, hospitals have been contacting patients directly to cancel appointments. “As this is a developing situation we would ask patients not to phone hospitals at this time. Hospitals will provide further clarity and details as soon as possible and information from all hospitals is available on  www.hse.ie/disruptions ”  

“While efforts are continuing to try to avert this action, the HSE is working with the MLSA to ensure arrangements are in place tomorrow for the provision of a limited range of services safely.”

Appointments and procedures disrupted by the strikes will be rescheduled as soon as possible, the HSE stated. 

It's understood medical scientists are responsible for over 80% of clinical diagnoses that take place on a daily basis. Every time someone goes to the GP for routine bloodwork, a sore throat, or any sort of infection, samples are sent to us to process and we provide the diagnosis and suitable treatment options. 

Moreover, hospitals and emergency medicine cannot function without laboratories. Behind every sample and test, there are highly qualified scientists. The lab in Portlaoise provides vital services for not just the hospital but local GPs and nursing homes as well. 

The MLSA said it has made every effort to avoid taking industrial action because of the serious impact it will have on the health service and on patient care, and to protect benefits already held by members but it felt it had no choice. 

Further planned days of action are scheduled to take place on May 24, 25, and again on May, 31, June 1 and 2 from 8am to 8pm.