Radiotherapy decision will improve lives
By ensuring that public radiotherapy will be delivered at Waterford Regional Hospital, accessibility to radiotherapy will be improved - which will greatly ease the plight of patients with cancer in this region.
More than 50% of cancer patients should have radiotherapy as part of their cancer management plan.
However, at the moment radiotherapy can only be delivered in Cork, Dublin or Galway, resulting in considerable hardship for many cancer patients and their families.
Indeed, some patients accept more radical surgery rather than undertaking prolonged adjunctive radiotherapy estranged from their home, dependants and relatives.
Ms Harney’s decision is well balanced, integrating a centralised system with a more accessible process, which is in keeping with the internationally accepted Pittsburgh radiotherapy regimen. It justifies the many scientific and social arguments put to Ms Harney over recent months in order to bring radiotherapy to the southeast.
It allows for the future planning and development of a state of the art cancer hospital at Waterford and will ensure that cancer patients in this region will benefit from multidisciplinary care in a centre of excellence.
Furthermore, it will guarantee that Waterford Regional Hospital will continue to attract cancer specialists of the highest quality, who, in turn, will dissipate such care to their patients in all five counties of the southeast.
For the future, cancer patients can look forward with confidence to a steady improvement in their prognosis as the benefits of radiotherapy become integrated in their care.
RGK Watson
Consultant Surgeon & Regional Director of Cancer Services
HSE South East Area
Dr Ian Fraser
Consultant Radiation Oncologist
Waterford Regional Hospital and St Luke’s Hospital, Dublin
