Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 14 Apr 1994

Vol. 441 No. 3

Written Answers - Surgery Abroad.

Nora Owen

Question:

88 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Health the number, if any, of patients who have had to go overseas for surgery in the past 12 months; whether such surgery is available in this country; if so, the extent of availability; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

The number of patients who have been referred abroad for surgery under EC Regulations in 1993 is set out in the following table:

Eastern Health Board	48
Midland Health Board	9
Mid-Western Health Board	13
North-Eastern Health Board	8
North-Western Health Board	3
Southern Health Board	37
South-Eastern Health Board	17
Western Health Board	23

Patients are referred abroad for specialised procedures such as bone marrow transplant, heart-lung transplant, liver transplant under EC Regulations. Referrals abroad for bone marrow transplants were necessary due to the shortfall in facilities for such operations at the National Centre of St. James's Hospital — Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. There were 26 bone marrow transplants carried out in St. James's Hospital and 16 carried out in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin in 1993.

Additional resources have been provided in recent years to allow upgrading of the unit at Crumlin and a second consultant paediatric oncologist post has recently been approved. Work is also well under way on the new oncology/haematology unit, incorporating the new bone marrow unit at St. James's Hospital. These developments when complete should allow the National Centre at the two hospitals to deal with almost all such cases arising in this country.

In relation to liver transplants, the National Centre (Adults) at St. Vincent's Hospital was fully established last year and has achieved a high success rate. Twenty-one liver transplants were performed on 18 patients. This followed a considerable investment in services and staff training in co-operation with the liver unit at Kings College Hospital, London. The children's liver unit at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin is still under development and additional funds have been allocated in 1994 to enable it to be operational as soon as possible.

Developments such as these will allow Irish patients to be treated nearer to home and avoid serious disruptions associated with travel abroad for such treatments. However, it must be accepted that it will not be possible to provide the resources necessary for all highly sophisticated surgical procedures to be made available in this country because of the high cost of such techniques. It will continue to be necessary to refer patients abroad for treatment in some cases. The position regarding referral abroad is kept under regular review in my Department and improvements to specialist services will continue to be made as resources allow.