Cystic fibrosis unit gets go-ahead

BUILDING will start this year on an isolation unit at the main treatment centre for adult cystic fibrosis sufferers in Dublin, the Health Service Executive announced yesterday.

Patients are concerned about being admitted to St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, the national CF referral centre for adults, via its accident and emergency department because of the contamination risk.

Last week a young man suffering from the disease, pleaded for a better quality of life than the one experienced by his older sister. Joseph Lawlor, 20, from Castlebridge, Co Wexford, said his sister Tracie, 24, who died last November, was terrified of going into St Vincent’s because of the risk.