Can Covid test etc be done in Limerick before surgery in Cork

Marz66

Hi

My elderly relative living in Limerick is going for surgery in Cork. She was a patient of UHL but they reassigned her to Cork due to lower waiting lists etc

Before the surgery, the hospital need her to do a Covid test 72 hrs before and a blood test 5 days before. They’ve sent appointments for these in Cork.

So that is 3 separate day trips to Cork for my relative who is frail and doesn’t drive. My Q is can we do these in Limerick instead?

Her Limerick GP is rural and can’t guarantee that he would have the blood test results back in time (surgery is on Monday so need the blood test done Weds and results back Fri).

For the Covid test, we could do the standard HSE PCR test and hope they will text the results in time and hope the Cork hospital accept that. The HSE PCR result text msg does not have any reference number on it. The HSE PCR appointment text does have a reference. I am not sure if the Cork hospital have access to that system if they wanted to double check the reference.

TLDR: if we do the two test appointments in Cork, there is a system in place to get the results to the surgery team in Cork. But if we arrange them ourselves in Limerick, I don’t know a system to do that and if they will trust us walking in with our own results. Yet it seems it should be possible to do a blood test and Covid test in Limerick.

We asked the secretary of the Cork consultant and she said they would be able to track the reference of a Covid test done in Limerick but not sure how this works in practice (no reference on the HSE PCR test result msg).

I know this is an unusual situation but posting in case someone else had the same situation and has any advice?

Thank you 😊

phog

Contact UHL and ask them to do the Covid Test and they send the results to Cork and patient.

I know someone who got it done like this.

Marz66

Thanks, that’s great.

Re contacting UHL, do you know was it the general UHL Reception phone number they rang? I’ll try there tomorrow anyway but they don’t always pick up.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118981827#Comment_118981827

Yes, I think they rang the main reception and inquired about having a test done in Limerick with results sent to consultant.

Marz66

Thanks v much.

I was able to arrange this. There was no answer from Reception but I got to talk to PALS (Patient Advocacy & Liaison Services) and they arranged it for me. Normally the GP would arrange it but ours wasn’t confident it would all be done on time. PALS told me exactly what to do to get it done on time. And she spoke to Cork to agree it with them and then sent me an email with the plan. They were really helpful. Just posting for anyone who might need this in the future.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118985706#Comment_118985706

Brilliant, glad you got it sorted.