Deputy Boylan has given notice of his intention to raise the matter of the future use of the mammography equipment in Cavan General Hospital which has lain idle since 1997.
Adjournment Debate. - Cancer Screening Programme.
I thank the Chair for allowing me raise this important issue and the Minister for taking the question. I am sure the Minister is aware of the position in Cavan General Hospital. A mammography machine was placed in Cavan General Hospital on the recommendation of the National Cancer Forum in 1997 and has lain idle since. It is scandalous, unacceptable and outrageous. When the machine was put in place and two rooms prepared for its operation, the Friends of Cavan General Hospital, a fund-raising support group, set about fund-raising for the commissioning of this machine and have £75,000 in a bank account for that purpose. To date, nothing has happened.
I attended a public meeting in Cavan town hall on Monday night week, one of the largest I have attended since coming into politics. There were over 700 people present. Two coaches with people from the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's area of Monaghan came to support us. There is no dissension within the Cavan-Monaghan constituency as to where this machine should be placed. Not only does the catchment area embrace Cavan and Monaghan but people in North Leitrim, Fermanagh and parts of Meath, will avail of this service.
It is well known in medical circles, and the Minister of State being a doctor will be aware of how important it is to encourage women to go for early screening. As a layman I listen to the medical people. Mr. Joyce, senior consultant at Cavan General Hospital, a very honourable man who attended that meeting and was not afraid to do so, stated that early detection can bring about 100% success in the treatment of cancer. When commissioned this mammography machine can detect a cancer growth as small as a pinhead. How can the Minister, Minister of State and the Department turn their backs on the people of Cavan-Monaghan? It is not only women but men who are afflicted by this problem. How can the Minister suggest that this machine will be taken out of Cavan General Hospital under a proposal by the North Eastern Health Board and placed in Drogheda? It is a waste of public funds.
The machine will not be taken out of that hospital because the people will not allow it. Is that anarchy? No, it is people standing up for their rights. We demand that this service be put in place. We demand that the Minister of State makes a clear categorical statement that the machine will now be commissioned. Nothing else will be acceptable.
I do not expect that the North Eastern Health Board is capable of making a decision on this issue. The members will not agree on it, to their eternal shame, but I hold out some hope for it. A new chief executive officer, Mr. Paul Robinson, has been appointed and I wish him well. It is early days but he has quite a task.
Services at the hospital must be improved. We cannot allow any further downgrading to occur. We are not second-class citizens and we will accept nothing less than the basic services to which we are entitled. Why suggest that the people of Cavan, Monaghan and Leitrim should travel to Drogheda when the people of Louth have this service in Beaumont Hospital which is only up the road from them? Are all the services to be moved to the east coast? Does the Minister intend to deny the Midland and Border region a service to which it is entitled?
In a reply to Deputy McManus yesterday it was stated that a mammography machine in Navan hospital has been closed down since last July. What has the North Eastern Health Board done about that? It recommended that patients should go to the Blackrock Clinic. I could not believe that but it is written in black and white. What is happening? Have the Minister and the Department lost the run of themselves?
I am reluctant to intervene but the Deputy must conclude.
I know only too well that the Chair is on my side and I would facilitate him by taking over the Chair if he wishes to come over here for five minutes and support me. I thank him for allowing me to make my case. We now look for a positive reply from the Minister.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and am pleased to have the opportunity afforded to me to inform the House of the position on the provision of specialist breast cancer services in the North Eastern Health Board area, on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Martin, Minister for Health and Children.
As the Deputy will be aware the provision of medical services at Cavan General Hospital is a matter for the North Eastern Health Board in the first instance.
The Deputy will be aware that at the request of my predecessor, Deputy Cowen, the former Minister for Health and Children, the national cancer forum established a sub-group to examine the provision of services for women with symptomatic breast disease. The sub-group was asked to make recommendations to the Minister for Health and Children on the diagnostic services for symptomatic breast disease necessary to meet projected increased needs; the need to develop associated services in radiotherapy, medical oncology, counselling and other support services; the resources required to develop these services; and the principles that should underlie the organisation and delivery of services for breast disease.
As part of the work of the sub-group, the regional directors of cancer services were asked for information concerning their current service and their views were sought regarding how the service should be developed in their region. In this context, the co-regional directors of cancer services in the North Eastern Health Board, Dr. Deborah Condell and Mr. Finbarr Lennon, were involved in this process. In addition, three members of the sub-group visited each region. The consensus view regarding best practice in the management of breast disease was presented to regional representatives and their views on how this could be achieved in their region were sought.
The sub-group found that although services should be delivered as close to the patient's home as is feasible, the overriding priority should be to provide the best, safest and most effective treatment for women and, in so doing, provide the best opportunity for long-term survival to those who are found to have breast cancer. The report of the sub-group of the cancer forum recommends that the population of the North Eastern Health Board justifies the development of one specialist breast disease unit.
My colleague. Deputy Micheál Martin, has received the report of the sub-group on the development of services for symptomatic breast disease. While he has taken no final decisions regarding implementation arrangements at health board level, he has established an advisory group under the chairmanship of Professor Niall O'Higgins to assist the health boards in formulating their plans for the development of services for symptomatic breast disease. This group recently met North Eastern Health Board officials and clinicians and I understand that following this, the board will develop its plans in this area and submit them to the Department for approval and funding.
I hope, in this process, Cavan will be given due recognition. No decision has been taken so everything remains to be fought for.
Will the Minister of State not make an announcement now?