Breast cancer centre doing just fine where it is

ONE thing is now clear following the revelations of major problems between consultants and management at Cork University Hospital (CUH) — Prof Tom Keane, interim director of the national cancer council programme, cannot now move one of the major breast cancer centres in the State, currently at the South Infirmary/Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH), into CUH for the foreseeable future (some would say the move is utter folly anyway).

This is a hugely sophisticated service and Prof Keane cannot guarantee that it would retain its current excellence.

We are told he is an international expert in these matters, so he must see the danger to the health and welfare of the patients in such a move.

He often says he is here only to implement a plan formulated by others, which begs the question why has he come such a long way to do someone else’s bidding? Now he must show initiative.

To persevere with the proposed move would be a reckless gamble on a doubt against a certainty — the certainty being the acknowledged excellence of the current service at SIVUH against the doubt of a move to a crowded hospital with consultants and management in open conflict.

John Walsh

Consultant Anaesthetist

South Infirmary Victoria

University Hospital

Cork