Vol. 498 No. 3
122 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will increase the funding to the Mater Hospital, Dublin 7, to ensure that the situation wherein the CAT scan machine was taken out of operation until the end of 1998 due to lack of funding is not repeated in the future where patients battling to overcome breast cancer are facing inordinate delays in receiving treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27075/98]
As I previously stated to the Deputy, each year hospitals are notified of their non-capital allocation and a service plan is drawn up by them and agreed with the Department. This plan sets down parameters for activity for the year and hospitals are required to maintain activity levels within the hospital's agreed parameters. Detailed decisions in relation to hospital spending area matter for the hospital management.
My Department has recently completed the 1999 Estimates process and has furnished agencies with their letter of determination. The Mater Hospital's allocation for 1999 represents a 14 per cent increase on its original 1998 allocation and includes a 100 per cent increase in its waiting list initiative funding.
I can appreciate the concerns which the Deputy may have about the reduction of CT services in the hospital. In this regard, I have been advised by the hospital's management that it intends to bring its second CT machine back into service on 5 January 1999. I have been further advised that CT services are not used on breast cancer patients.
