The head of Cork University Hospital (CUH) has said he is satisfied that a full staffing complement will be in place when a new €40m radiation oncology unit opens next October, despite a warning that posts “central to the delivery of cancer care” are either vacant or unfilled.

Backlit scenery panels, iPod docking stations and an atrium flooded with light are all positives for patients who will attend Munster’s new state-of-the-art radiation oncology centre, but it’s the treatments rather than the aesthetics that will become the ultimate talking point.

It’s usually an aid to regaining composure, the advice to “take a deep breath”, but for left-sided breast cancer patients, it will vastly reduce radiation doses to the heart.

A DVD to help breast cancer patients facing reconstructive surgery was launched yesterday.

DETAILS of alarming cancer rates have led county councillors to call on Health Minister Mary Harney to open a 30-bed ward at Cork University Hospital for sufferers of the disease.