A cancer specialist at St Luke's Hospital believes Mary Harney would be wrong to relocate the hospital, writes Theresa Judge
A cancer specialist at St Luke's Hospital in Dublin has called on Minister for Health Mary Harney to reconsider her decision to relocate the hospital to St James's Hospital.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for St Luke's Hospital has ruled out a suggestion that the original purchase agreement stipulates that the State must continue to use the prime site in Rathgar for cancer care.
He said the land was "bought on a commercial basis", meaning that the Department of Health can sell the site if it chooses.
Under the Government's National Plan for Radiation Oncology, St Luke's is to be transferred to St James's by 2011 and, in a statement this week, the Minister said she was "determined that the HSE will deliver on this plan as originally scheduled".
On the question of the future use of the site, it states that it is "the Minister's objective to ensure that these resources are utilised in the best interests of the health services".
However, the Minister and the department have noticeably avoided any commitment to use the site for the care of cancer patients after 2011.
Former patients of St Luke's, who are now organising a national campaign to keep the hospital open in the run-up to the general election, fear the value of the prime site on some 18 acres in the affluent area of Rathgar is one of the main reasons why it is being relocated.
The hospital board, meanwhile, is stressing that investment to improve services will continue up to 2011.
In a statement, the board has said the use of the campus has yet to be decided. It says the board, in partnership with the Friends of St Luke's, which fundraises for the hospital, "is exploring the potential long-term benefits for cancer patients of retaining the site as a resource for patients and their families".
This would recognise the "vital role an environment of peace and tranquillity plays in patient care and rehabilitation", the board's statement says.
Consultant radiation oncologist Ian Fraser says there is an argument to leave St Luke's as a radiotherapy centre for south Dublin. He stresses that the environment of St Luke's, with its large gardens and a lodge where patients and their partners can be accommodated, is an important factor in people's recovery.
"You can't stimulate someone to fight against cancer if they are locked into a small cubicle rather than in a nice open, breezy room," he says.
While people's partners can be accommodated in the lodge during the weeks of their treatment at St Luke's, it will be difficult to get one bed for a patient in a busy general hospital, let alone a second one for their partner.
Fraser says the grounds and environment of St Luke's are "integral" to the care of cancer patients and that it is "highly unlikely" that the service provided there could be replicated elsewhere.
He accepts though that for optimal care, it is preferable to have all three components of cancer care - surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy - located on the one site.
"Surgery still cures more cancer patients than any other modality and we need to work very closely with surgeons," he says.
To leave St Luke's as a radiotherapy centre for south Dublin "would quell an argument between St James's and St Vincent's", he says.
In Harney's plan for the reorganisation of cancer services, St James's was chosen as the site for a radiotherapy unit in south Dublin.
A campaign against the relocation was formally launched by former patients over the past week. An election candidate in Dublin South East, Rory Hearne of the People Before Profit Alliance, has also made it one of the key issues in his campaign.
Joe Guilfoyle, a former patient at St Luke's who started the Action Group for the Retention of St Luke's, says 18 committees are now formed in counties as far apart as Kerry, Donegal and Waterford.
He says that 95,000-100,000 people have signed a petition opposing the closure and the group is determined to make it an election issue in every constituency in the State.
The campaign group and Fraser also stress that St Luke's is one of the best performing hospitals in the State, scoring highest in hygiene audits and for patient care.
Nancy Browne, also a former patient and chairwoman of the Kildare branch of the action group, says people are determined to step up the campaign because they feel so strongly that cancer patients of the future should get the same standard of care as they did in St Luke's.
Many of the people in the campaign are still recovering from cancer treatment and are not in full health.
"St Luke's is the most amazing place, it is a haven of peace and tranquillity, with beautiful gardens with trees and flowers," she says. "There is also a tremendous sense of camaraderie. It has been a cancer hospital for 50 years and they have learned a lot about what cancer patients need, so it would be such a shame to lose all that," she says.
People undergoing cancer treatment are very vulnerable, she says, and they need an environment like St Luke's and not the atmosphere of a busy, overcrowded large teaching hospital.
The campaign group also points to the massive investment that has been put into St Luke's both by the State and from fundraising and says much of this will be lost if it closes.
The Friends of St Luke's Hospital, which raises funds for the hospital, has raised €20 million over the past 26 years. This has been spent on new cancer equipment and the lodge accommodation. The Friends of St Luke's is not involved in the campaign.
A spokeswoman says they are focusing on fundraising to continue to improve services at the hospital.
Guilfoyle fears the value of the land is a crucial issue. "As former patients we don't want to see these facilities passed to developers or lost to the people of the State," he says.
He says until now many people have not been aware of the plan to relocate St Luke's but once they hear of the campaign they are supporting it.
Hearne, who is studying for a PhD on public/private partnerships at Trinity College Dublin, says he fears a deal will be done with private developers to give them the land at St Luke's in exchange for the building of radiotherapy units at St James's and Beaumont hospitals. "People have donated €20 million to develop St Luke's - what right does the Minister have to take that away?" he asks.
The Action Group for the Retention of St Luke's Hospital will be holding a march to the Dáil on April 4th. There will also be a public meeting in Rathmines, Dublin, on March 28th where former patients will be speaking.