INO seeks cancer spend breakdown

NURSES at Cork University Hospital (CUH) have called for hospital management to explain how the €25 million allocated to cancer services has been spent in the past three years.

Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) representatives have revealed there is great dissatisfaction among oncology nurses at the standards of services provided.

Their criticism follows the publication of a letter sent by CUH medical oncologist Dr Seamus O’Reilly to Tánaiste Mary Harney and Health Service Executive (HSE) in which he said the lack of beds at the hospital meant dying patients were being forced to remain in pain at home.

Dr O’Reilly’s letter, which appeared in the Irish Examiner earlier this week, led to heated exchanges in the Dáil and the temporary expulsion of two TDs.

In the letter, Dr O’Reilly outlined how terminally ill patients were forced to stay in a ward with people recovering from alcohol binges, while he said the hospital’s IT system was antiquated and dangerous. He also criticised the Department of Health for not extending the BreastCheck screening programme to the south yet.

INO industrial relations officer Patsy Doyle said the hospital’s plans to develop a €47m oncology and renal unit were coming too late.

She called for a public meeting to address the issues raised by Dr O’Reilly.

“We can’t wait another four years for an improvement. The need for care is immediate. Where is the money going to? There are no visible signs of the multi-site acute hospitals in Cork working to manage the deficit in cancer care,” she said.

A HSE spokeswoman said €32.4m had been spent in the past four years.

“We now have four linear accelerators compared to one three years ago. We now also have a CT simulator for the first time ever. We have also introduced brachytherapy and refurbished the radiotherapy ward. The rest of the money has been spent on further developing services while cancer drugs are hugely expensive.”