Vital cancer scanner still not in use 3 years on

HUNDREDS of cancer patients are still being forced to travel across the country for treatment because vital medical equipment which cost the state almost €4 million three years ago continues to be mothballed.

Despite repeated claims by the former and current governments that the PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography) scanner at Cork University Hospital (CUH) is being brought online, the Irish Examiner has learned the equipment is still unavailable to seriously ill patients.

The scanner — which takes a detailed 3-D image of cancerous growths, significantly helping doctors with their treatment prognoses — is one of just two available in the public system, with the other based in St James’s Hospital in Dublin.

Plans for the Cork equipment were announced in September 2007, before it was purchased for €3.8m in early 2009.

In November 2010, the HSE was given special authorisation to breach the recruitment embargo and appoint a clinical specialist radiographer, two senior radiographers and a principal physicist, to run the expensive medical tool.

However, despite then junior minister John Moloney saying the posts would be filled by March 2011, they were not advertised and remain unfilled — a position Junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch told the Dáil last July she was “embarrassed” to admit.

In an attempt to address the situation, CUH chief executive Tony McNamara has confirmed the HSE is to tender for private agency workers to take up the posts this month.

The process is likely to result in further delays for the patients the equipment is supposed to help.

While the scanner is also used for neurology and heart disease treatment, cancer patients have been worst affected.

Despite their frail health and greater risk of infections, the unavailability of the scanner in CUH means that an average of 200 cancer patients are being forced to travel from Munster to St James’s Hospital in Dublin for public access to the service every year.

The travel costs are paid by the taxpayer, and cost more than €1m between 2008 and summer 2010.

The issue is due to be raised in the Dáil tomorrow by Fine Gael Cork East TD David Stanton, who has repeatedly sought clarity on the matter.

A HSE South spokesperson said the positions will now be filled by private agency workers as soon as possible.