Hospital cancer unit to plead for Mercy

ONE of the country’s busiest cancer units is to plead for the chance to stay open despite not being named as one of the eight big cancer centres where all patients must be treated within two years.

Management at Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in Cork said yesterday they would be seeking a meeting with the newly appointed national director of cancer control, Professor Tom Keane, to impress on him the importance of the hospital’s work in cancer care.

Hospital chief executive Pat Madden said he believed more patients were treated for cancer between MUH and fellow Cork City hospital, the South Infirmary, than at Cork University Hospital (CUH) which was designated one of the eight major cancer centres.