Cullen under fire over cancer service comments

Neans McSweeney

Cancer campaigners have vowed to stage a protest when Mr Cullen lays the foundation stone for a private radiotherapy clinic in Waterford on Friday. The private clinic is being built by Euro Care International.

The campaigners are Furious over Mr Cullen's assertion that there is no difference between private and public radiotherapy treatment. They also say the Government has broken an election promise to provide a public radiotherapy service in the south east.

Yesterday, in an interview with local radio station, WLR FM, Mr Cullen said it didn't matter who was providing the service, and what mattered was that it was coming to the region.

He said: "What difference does it make whose name is over the door, publicly provided or privately provided?"

But cancer campaigners described his comments as "the latest government U-turn" in the fight for a radiotherapy unit for public and private patients at Waterford Regional Hospital.

"I'm disgusted with Minister Cullen's comments," said campaigner Sheila McGrath.

"If he put half as much into fighting for public patients as he's putting in to promoting this private clinic, he'd be a lot better off."

Mr Cullen defended his comments, saying that public private partnerships are the way forward for Ireland's healthcare system.

"The whole development of healthcare in Ireland is very much a co-ordinated approach between private sector investment and public sector investment.

"We have to maximise the facilities available to the public and ensure that everyone has full access to all of the facilities. Public patients are being treated in private hospitals all over the country.

"At this facility, many public patients requiring many different types of disciplines, not just radiotherapy, will be treated. The Finance Act of 2001 was set up to facilitate private investment in health service. It requires at least 20% of services have to be provided to the public," he said.

"It's quite clear that the entire health bill can't be funded by the taxpayer.

We need private facilities available as well. The irony of this is that the radiotherapy facilities that are going to be put in Waterford are far ahead of anything that exists in Ireland today."

Mr Cullen said he was disappointed with the reception he received from cancer campaigners who held a protest rally at the Dáil on Thursday last.

"I don't know what screaming 'Don't Vote for Martin Cullen' outside Dáil Eireann has to do with dealing with a very serious issue. I have had a few people who were on the march in contact with me and they said it wasn't the type of message they were trying to send nationally," Mr Cullen said.

Cancer campaigners denied they are politically motivated in any way.

"There is no politics on our committee. All we are doing is fighting for the people who are dying, the people who are getting sick in toilets in Dublin and Cork and crying all the way back to Waterford," Ms McGrath added.

The campaigners say the Hollywood Report on cancer care proposed multi-disciplinary care for patients, with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy all provided under the one roof.

But campaigning group Cancer Care Alliance (CCA) say they cannot understand why a Government minister should now be so actively promoting a private facility which will not include all three disciplines.

"The credibility of the whole Hollywood Report has been called into question with the explosion in the number of private hospitals offering radiotherapy which have come on stream," said Jane Bailey of the CCA. "Radiotherapy will be provided in no less than six sites in Dublin under current plans.

"It is only common sense that in the south east, radiotherapy should be provided at Waterford Regional Hospital where we have the other two disciplines. What is being provided by Euro Care International at this site in Waterford is not in the best interest of cancer patients. All the expert opinion shows that you get 20% better results when you provide all three disciplines in one site," she said.

The CCA says that while private patients at the Mater Hospital can have their

radiation treatment organised in six hours, it often takes six weeks for public patients from the south east to get their first session in Dublin or Cork.

Chairman and Chief executive of Euro Care International Dr Jim Madden said the public element of the project was very important. "I couldn't run my own surgery on private patients alone. It would be uneconomical," he said.

"We are bringing radiotherapy for everyone to Waterford public and private patients. We have two linear accelerators for Waterford."

No public money is going into the facility which is 100%, privately funded by Dr Madden and his family. "We will have a high-class radiotherapy service for Waterford, of a standard they don't even have in Dublin," he said.