North-west brings cancer services fight to capital

IT WAS the banner that read “Death by Geography” that best summed up how about 250 people from the north-west of the country felt yesterday when they protested outside Leinster House against the planned downgrading of cancer treatment services at Sligo General Hospital.

And another banner showing the proposed eight cancer specialist centres and a line drawn from Dublin to Galway illustrated how they felt left out of the cancer services reorganisation plan.

Under the plan, cancer treatment services at Sligo General Hospital are to be transferred to Galway University Hospital, resulting in hundreds of cancer patients living in the north west having to face a four to five hour round trip for treatment in Galway.