Cancer treatment centre closures to boost quality of care, says Harney

SOME cancer treatment centres in Ireland must close if a proper standard of care is to be delivered, Health Minister, Mary Harney said yesterday.

She told a patient safety conference in Dublin that all cancer services must be centralised to ensure patients receive the highest quality of care. But, she stressed, world-class cancer services could not be provided in every hospital, and she called on the public, healthcare professions and trade unions to support the development of designated cancer treatment centres.

She said it was time to end the conflict over having everything at local level, and quality. The latter was the only option, she said, adding that patients faced with a choice of local services would choose the high-quality option every time.

Ms Harney said the Health Service Executive (HSE) was charged with implementing the national cancer strategy adopted by the Government last May, and a director to implement it would be appointed soon.

“We will not be able to have cancer treatment in almost every hospital in the country, which is the case at the moment,” she warned.

Cancer treatment centres designated at regional and national level would need to have the volume of new cases to ensure health professionals remained skilled at treating cancer.

And, she said, while moves had been made to centralise breast cancer treatment services, it was not happening fast enough. She also blamed the way the State’s health authority was organised in the past for the failure to implement a very similar report produced seven years ago by breast cancer specialist Professor Niall O’Higgins, which called for 13 specialist cancer screening centres.

Ms Harney said it would have been impossible to implement the report as each of the 11 health boards would have wanted its own centre.

Prof O’Higgins, who chaired an expert group in 2000 that recommended the establishment of the centres, said the delay was “beyond acceptability”.

The five main breast cancer charities in Ireland issued a joint statement yesterday calling on the Government to implement the recommendations made by the professor’s group.

Ark House, Europe Donna, the Irish Cancer Society, the Marie Keating Foundation and Reach for Recovery are also anxious that people are aware that breast cancer treatment cannot and should not be available in every hospital in Ireland.

Chairman of the Marie Keating Foundation David Hall said that while there would be inconvenience and transport challenges, the development of centres of excellence was essential.

Chief executive of the Health Information and Quality Authority Dr Tracey Cooper, said it would soon announce how it planned to review breast cancer services.

Dr Cooper had planned to conduct a review of services next year but, in light of recent events, had decided to bring it forward in order to help with the implementation of new national standards and offer support where needed.

Ms Harney also gave an assurance that patients would not be adversely affected by the HSE’s recruitment freeze which she believed was necessary in order for the health authority to spend within its annual budget.

Asked about the decision to continue to pay performance-related bonuses, the minister said it was a public service pay policy issue and that setting it aside was not necessary for the HSE to operate within its annual budget.