Fears over ‘post code’ cancer services

A leading cancer doctor has warned that failure to progress two long-awaited radiation oncology centres in Cork and Galway would deprive patients in the south and west of services already available in Dublin.

Consultant radiation oncologist Dr Paul Kelly said it would be unforgivable if the units — promised for Cork University Hospital (CUH) and University Hospital Galway (UHG) — fell foul of Health Service Executive (HSE) cutbacks. The HSE is currently working on its 2014 service plan which will detail the cuts necessary to meet a spending reduction of €666m next year.

Concerns in relation to the future of the Cork and Galway cancer units surfaced amid reports that the HSE was looking at slashing its capital budget.

Dr Kelly said if the units were put on hold, access to quality radiation oncology services would become a “post code lottery”.

“We’re operating here with radiotherapy services that are not on a par with Dublin. You can’t put two state-of-the-art units in Dublin and tell the rest of the population to go to hell,” Dr Kelly said.

The Dublin units, at Beaumont Hospital and St James Hospital, built under phase 1 of the National Plan for Radiation Oncology (NPRO), are operational since 2011. The Cork and Galway units, according to a spokesperson for the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP), are due to be up and running by 2017 under phase 2 of the NPRO. The spokesperson said they had “not been notified of any change to the plan”.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who was health minister at the time the national plan for the development of radiation oncology services was published, said it would be “unthinkable at this stage” if the Government backtracked on the plan to provide state-of-the-art services in Cork and Galway. He said he would raise the matter in the Dáil next week.

Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer, chair of the Oireachtas committee for health and children, said he would be seeking a meeting with Health Minister James Reilly in relation to the issue and that he would be writing to Tony O’Brien, HSE chief.

Yesterday, Mr Reilly denied there were any plans to attack the €350m HSE capital budget in an effort to cut costs.

Mr Reilly said there was “absolutely no question” of capital expenditure in health being cut in order to meet the savings target for next year.

Mr Reilly also said he was writing to the HSE to grant them a 10-day extension in relation to their 2014 services plan.