Delay in cancer treatment due to blocked drains

BLOCKED drains were blamed yesterday for a delay in treatment for certain cancer patients in Cork.

Pipes in Cork University Hospital’s (CUH) iodine isolation ward, designed to handle radioactive waste, had to be ripped up and relaid after blockages were discovered.

The room was opened in June but blockages were discovered within days.

Patients with thyroid cancer are placed in the isolation room for up to a week while being treated.

Because they have to swallow a radioactive capsule, their excretions are slightly radioactive. The room’s toilet pipes and shower drains carry this waste to a holding tank. But blockages were discovered soon after the room opened.

It is understood paper towels flushed into the system may have been to blame. There was a risk that slightly radioactive material could have seeped into the room.

However, a spokesperson for the hospital’s oncology unit said no seepage occurred. The repair work forced the closure of the room for four weeks and a delay in treatment for a number of patients with thyroid cancer.

The spokesperson said the repair work, carried out in conjunction with the Radiological Protection Institution, had delayed treatments for a week or two.

“We hope to resume treatments within two weeks,” she said.

Patients whose treatment was delayed were given a ‘holding drug’ to tide them over until their new appointments. “None of the patients are in danger,” she said.

Attempts to slot the patients into similar treatment programmes in Dublin and Belfast failed because those units were full. Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen criticised the situation last night.

“It was appalling that people in need of cancer treatment have this delay,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive denied last night recent reports that patients in Kerry will suffer following the curtailment of an angiography service.

The procedure, whereby doctors carry out an X-ray examination of the blood vessels or chambers of the heart, was offered in Kerry General Hospital last March when Dr Victor Kocka was appointed its first consultant cardiologist.

Dr Kocka was providing the service to Kerry patients through the use of a leased cath lab at the Bon Secours private hospital in Cork, where the procedure was carried out. However, funding shortages forced the cancellation of the lease.

Dr Kocka said the move had limited his service “to a significant degree”.

But a HSE spokesperson said patients in need of an emergency angiograph will now have to travel instead to Cork University Hospital.

“There are no waiting lists for the procedure at CUH,” a spokesperson said.

It is understood other patients are being considered for inclusion in the National Treatment Purchase Fund.