State concern over plans for private cancer centre

CONCERN that the development of a €12 million private radiotherapy centre in Limerick could impact on the feasibility of a supra-regional unit in Galway has been expressed by Comhairle na nOspidéal.

The statutory body that controls the appointment of medical staff in hospitals said it was crucial that consultants devoted all their time to establish and develop the radiation oncology centre in Galway.

The Mid-Western Health Board recently approved the granting of a licence to the Mid-Western Hospitals Development Trust to develop a private radiotherapy on the campus of Limerick Regional Hospital.

The trust has offered to finance the building and equipping costs and to fund the ongoing running costs of the project.

Private specialists will provide the service. According to the Hollywood Report, however, a population of 650,000 is the minimum catchment area for a viable radiation oncology centre.

The council said it was important that all patients in the Galway centre’s catchment area could use it.

According to minutes released to Medicine Weekly under the Freedom of Information Act, council members were reminded that it was government policy to develop a publicly funded, supra-regional radiation oncology centre in Galway that would be viable in terms of the population it served.

It was agreed, however, that it would be best to have consultants who would devote all their time to establish the publicly funded centre. And while it was accepted that the proposed private development could impact on the Galway centre, the matter was outside the council’s remit and was a government matter.