HSE under fire for cut in cancer services
Opposition in Co Clare was mounting yesterday to the HSE’s decision to remove mammography services from Ennis General Hospital with a public meeting in Ennis called for next Monday.
Coinciding with the Ennis Hospital Development Committee calling the meeting, Minister of State at the Department of Communications &Tony Killeen yesterday expressed his own concerns about how the decision was reached. Clare County Council’s first female mayor Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) also voiced her opposition to the move.
The HSE has stated that all mammography services for the Mid-West are to be concentrated in the Mid- West Regional Hospital in Limerick. The director of cancer care services for the HSE in the Mid-West Professor Rajnish Gupta said: “The decision to discontinue mammography in Ennis is driven by the need to provide the best possible clinical practice.”
He added: “Quite simply, the time came to bite the bullet. Centres where less than 1,000 mammograms are being done in a year do not provide the volume of work necessary for the maintenance of the required level of professional skills.”
However, Mr Killeen said that the development of mammography services in the Mid-West “is a fundamental element of the restructuring and continued improvement of health services in the region”.
He said: “Therefore, I am very disappointed with the HSE’s move not to consult with public representatives and the HSE West [Regional Health] Forum before announcing its decision to concentrate all mammography services in Limerick.”
Mr Killeen has asked to meet with senior HSE officials and Health Minister Mary Harney.
Mr Killeen also criticised the manner in which the HSE announced its decision on Tuesday.
He said: “The announcement of this decision by press release hardly takes account of the wishes of the general public. I would have thought that a level of information would have been available to the public prior to any decision being announced. This announcement also appears to be happening very conveniently at a time when the service is out of commission and based elsewhere. I would like to see the HSE lay the cards openly and fairly on the table so that the issue can be fully examined.”
Mr Killeen said he was prepared to argue the case for retention of such services at acute hospitals rather than centralising them.
He said: “Any evidence I have seen, on the one hand, saying the centralisation of services is best is more than countered by alternative evidence suggesting that the provision of local services is best.
“I am not entirely convinced that this decision will benefit the people of Clare in the long term.”
The public meeting in response to the HSE decision is to take place at the Auburn Lodge hotel in Ennis next Monday at 8.30pm.
