Focus on radiotherapy services in troubled report

A CONTROVERSIAL report on radiotherapy services which claimed patients did not rate travelling for treatment among their top 10 concerns will come under the Dáil spotlight today.

The Government and Opposition parties are due to make statements on The Development of Radiation Oncology Services report, which recommends that future development of radiotherapy services be confined to centres of excellence in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

The Government-commissioned expert report gave rise to a public outcry in the south-east and mid-west when it was published last October because it ignored demands for locally -accessible treatment centres in Waterford and Limerick, where cancer surgery and chemotherapy treatments are available.