Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 5 Dec 1995

Vol. 459 No. 3

Written Answers. - Hospital Equipment.

Liam Aylward

Question:

80 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Health if he will have arrangements made to have new machines, which are already available, installed in a hospital (details supplied) in Dublin 6 where the old machines are breaking down and patients are losing out on vital treatment. [18000/95]

Minister for Health (Mr. Noonan

, Limerick East): I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have approved a comprehensive investment package in excess of £10 million to upgrade facilities and equipment at St. Luke's Hospital, Dublin. This investment will see the hospital developed into a national centre of excellence in the treatment of cancer and provide for a complete upgrading of accommodation and equipment throughout the hospital. Specifically, in relation to radiotherapy equipment, I have already provided £3 million to enable the hospital to purchase a package of new state of the art equipment. The following is the position in relation to the delivery and commissioning of the new equipment at St. Luke's Hospital:—

—two new linear accelerators have now been delivered and are being installed prior to commissioning;

—a new simulator has been operational since September 1995;

—a new CT simulator has been delivered and will be operational in February 1996;

—a new treatment planning system has been delivered and will also be operational in February 1996.

The Deputy should appreciate that given the highly technical nature of the treatment carried out on radiotherapy machines, absolute accuracy and precision are required in the installation and operation of such equipment. Hence there is a significant lead in time for the commissioning of new radiotherapy equipment following delivery.

In relation to the existing treatment equipment at St. Luke's, the hospital put in place a comprehensive maintenance contract earlier this year to ensure that its linear accelerators were operating to full capacity. In general, the operational efficiency of radiotherapy equipment can reasonably be measured in terms of machine downtime as a proportion of total operational time. However, radiotherapy equipment, of necessity, requires to be temporarily taken out of service for a variety of reasons, including calibration and validation work, preventative maintenance and, on occasion, for repair work.

Contingency arrangements are automatically put in place by the hospital when equipment is temporarily out of use, to ensure that all emergency cases are accommodated and continuity of treatment.