A campaign to secure a radiotherapy unit for cancer patients in the south east has intensified after a meeting on Monday of Waterford City Council, writes Chris Dooley.
Standing orders were suspended to allow councillors debate a motion calling on the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to provide such a unit at Waterford Regional Hospital. The motion was unanimously supported.
The debate followed a meeting convened recently by the Mayor of Waterford, Mr Hilary Quinlan, at which cancer specialists outlined to city councillors the case for a radiotherapy service.
Mr Quinlan told The Irish Times he would seek the support in coming days of the county council chairman and his fellow mayors in Kilkenny, Clonmel and Wexford for the radiotherapy campaign, which is likely to be a major election issue.
"This is very much a regional matter. It takes 10 weeks for a cancer patient in the south-east to get access to radiotherapy treatment at St Luke's Hospital in Dublin, and we need a unit here to serve a population of 400,000 people."
There is growing concern in the south-east, however, that an expert group set up by the Minister to examine the provision of radiotherapy facilities nationally is likely to recommend that a population of this size is not enough to support a radiotherapy unit.
Concern is also being expressed about the time it is taking the group, which was established in May 2000, to complete its work. It was initially expected to report last summer. In early December, the Department of Health and Children said the report was expected before the end of last year.
Later in the month it said the report was expected in January. So there was extreme disappointment when the Minister said last week he expected the report "in the next two months".
The chairman of the group, Prof Donal Hollywood, is away this week and could not be contacted to discover the reason for the delay. Campaigners for a unit to be located in the south-east fear the Government will try to stall publication of the report until after the general election.
Mr Quinlan, a Fine Gael councillor and, until recently, chairman of the South Eastern Health Board, said people were preparing themselves for "a negative response" from the expert group. "But we will not take 'no' for an answer. The vibes we're getting from the review group are not good, but the Minister can overrule the group if he wishes."
A delegation from the south-east, including consultants based at Waterford Regional Hospital, has requested a meeting with Mr Martin to make their case.
About 1,000 new cancer patients are diagnosed in the region each year, about half of whom require radiotherapy as part of their treatment.
Nationally, however, only one in five cancer patients gets access to such treatment.
Mr Gordon Watson, the director of cancer services for the southeast, says some patients would benefit from pre-operative radiotherapy but the time it takes to get into St Luke's rules this out. "We have to proceed with surgery without the radiation treatment."
Patients who get into St Luke's face a choice between spending five weeks away from home, or travelling 200 mile round journeys each day for treatment that lasts just a few minutes.
However, in a submission to the expert group, the Eastern Regional Health Authority implied that the south-east did not have the population to support a radiotherapy unit. A study carried out in Britain, it said, had recommended that a population of one million was necessary to provide the critical mass of patients for a cancer centre, with "a population of two-thirds of a million being the absolute minimum".
Even if radiotherapy services were developed in Waterford, it added, "it is likely that patients from parts of the south-eastern region, especially those living in Carlow, north Kilkenny and north Wexford, will continue to receive radiotherapy services in Dublin".
Consultants in Waterford, however, say it is not possible to offer an optimum level of care for cancer patients unless all the specialist services are provided in one location, allowing a team of doctors to plan each patient's treatment.
Mr Quinlan said local politicians had been deeply impressed by the case outlined by locally-based cancer specialists at the meeting he recently convened. One of them, Mr John Stratton, had released a copy of a letter he wrote to the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, about the issue in December.
Mr Stratton wrote that while waiting lists might be a priority for the Government, he was more concerned about the quality of the service patients received.
"I as a practising gynaecological oncologist feel so frustrated since moving back to this country from the UK as I am unable to provide the standard of service I would like to provide.
"Half my working day is spent fighting trying to do the job I do, without staff, infrastructure and the necessary resources.
"Luckily for the Government patients don't realise just how bad the health service in this country is but it breaks my heart every day when I see one of my patients suffering or dying because I don't have the resources and set-up to give them the treatment they should get and deserve," he wrote.
"I know a radiotherapy centre in Waterford won't suddenly change things but at least the very basics will be in place and will allow for the service to develop and improve.
"I would urge you as Tánaiste to use whatever powers are available to you to get a radiotherapy facility for Waterford and the south-east."