Hospital unit idle over lack of funding

A HOSPITAL from which a cancer specialist resigned in frustration at the lack of a dedicated ward for his patients has rooms lying idle due to lack of funding.

Dr Oscar Breathnach has resigned from his post of consultant oncologist at Cork University Hospital (CUH) after four years of campaigning for a seven-day dedicated cancer ward. Yesterday his colleague, consultant oncologist Dr Seamus O’Reilly, said the ward could be provided if a new day procedures unit at the hospital was opened up. The 35-bed unit is part of a €24 million A&E department lying idle for over a year because of the lack of funding to staff it. Dr O’Reilly said if the day procedures unit opened, it would free up beds elsewhere in the hospital, paving the way for a 30-bed cancer ward at a cost of €1.6m per quarter.

“We could create what there is professional consensus on a need for here: that is, a dedicated haemotology/oncology/radiotherapy and palliative care ward,” said Dr O’Reilly.

However, A&E chief at CUH Dr Stephen Cusask said there was no guarantee cancer patients would benefit from the creation of extra beds. He said all specialities in the hospital were seeking extra beds.

“There are a lot of competing interests and 35 beds are 35 beds. We also have a requirement for a medical assessment unit,” he said, which Health Minister Mary Harney advocates as part of her €70 million, 10-point action plan.

Dr Cusack said it was up to hospital management “to prioritise what they see as most important” and that there was “no guarantee beds would go anywhere in particular”.

Dr O’Reilly said the crisis created by Dr Breathnach’s resignation would, hopefully, lead to an examination of overall resources at CUH.

“I think every other speciality would have something to say about lack of resources. The lack of bed capacity is a huge issue.” However, the lack of resources in cancer treatment - the hospital has only two oncologists when it needs four - is costing lives and leading to more treatment demands, Dr O’Reilly said. He was reassured following a meeting with the Health Service Executive (HSE) Southern Area yesterday. He said that work was progressing quickly to secure a replacement for Dr Breathnach when he moves to Beaumont Hospital in the summer, where he will join a team of 12 oncologists. Dr O’Reilly said the shortage of consultants in the Cork/Kerry area was “symptomatic of a greater problem of under-resourcing” in the region, which is also without Breastcheck or a free cervical cancer screening programme.

A statement from the Irish Cancer Society called for the deficiencies in cancer facilities at CUH to be addressed in the wake of Dr Breathnach’s resignation.

In a statement, the HSE said it was “working on a plan with the Southern region with a view to putting in place a specific unit for in-patient oncology treatment in the region”. It said this would be possible this year with the new day procedures unit. However, Dr Cusack said while the new A&E is to open shortly he has “no idea” when the day procedures unit will open.