Vol. 566 No. 1
60 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children if negotiations have taken place with Northern Ireland authorities regarding cross border co-operation on the provision of radiotherapy services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11913/03]
Discussions are taking place between Belfast City Hospital and the North-Western Health Board regarding the provision of cancer services, including radiotherapy, for Donegal patients. I am advised that the current radiotherapy capacity in Northern Ireland does not allow for any additional patients from this jurisdiction to be treated there. I am also advised that oncology treatment services, including radiotherapy services, are being transferred to Belfast City Hospital, a multi-disciplinary tertiary referral university hospital. This centralised service will provide all radiation oncology services in Northern Ireland. Extensive new radiotherapy treatment facilities are being constructed on the hospital campus at present and it is expected these new facilities will come on stream in 2006 – 2007. When these new facilities come on stream, it is hoped that some Donegal patients will then be treated in Belfast City Hospital.
The North-Western Health Board has a long association of working closely with Belfast City Hospital in providing cancer care. This has significantly enhanced the quality of cancer care delivered in Donegal and has been a key factor in attracting high quality specialist staff to Letterkenny General Hospital.
I welcome the information, even if it relates to the future, that we will have co-operation with the North and that people in the north west will be in a position to avail of radiotherapy services there. I note that the Minister gave the go-ahead yesterday for the recruitment of staff for the radiotherapy service in Galway. Does he envisage that the staff will be recruited this year and, if so, out of what budgets will they be paid?
That is a separate question.
It is related to radiotherapy services in the west.
The sanction involves the cost for the remainder of this year and the full year cost. The cost for this year will be low, having regard to the recruitment process. The sanction also allows for the full year cost.
Is the Minister aware that less than one-third of 12,000 patients in this State who require radiotherapy each year are currently receiving that service? It is essential, as I am sure the Minister agrees, that we develop cross-Border provision of services in all areas of health care. Will the Minister explain the reason his focus, in terms of access to Belfast, is solely in relation to Donegal? Others living in the Border periphery would find Belfast more accessible than the assumed centres that will be acknowledged in the report of the radiotherapy service development group, soon to be published. Will the Minister confirm that the centres to be confirmed in that report are Dublin, Cork and Galway, leaving out whole swathes of even this jurisdiction, in terms of access to radiotherapy service? If we are looking at this issue on an all-Ireland and all-island basis, it is not only a cross-Border matter. When we refer to an all-island context, we refer to all parts of the island. Dublin, Cork and Galway will not cater to two-thirds of the island terrain. We need the extension of this service to a number of other centres, including the case which has been made for Waterford and for areas north of a line from Dublin to Galway. What are we to do in the Border regions, including the north-west area, other than taking the Minister's point about Donegal having access to Belfast in the future? Whole swathes of the country will be without this essential service, so what does the Minister intend to do?
It is interesting that in Northern Ireland they are talking about just one radiotherapy centre for the entire Six Counties, yet the Deputy is suggesting that we should have six in the South.
I never said six.
He went around it and did not tell me which ones should be in or out because that would hamper the recruitment drive which the Deputy's party is engaged in across the country, on the back of the health service.
Would the Minister not agree that we certainly need more?
The all-island approach is correct and we are examining this matter in that context. When the Northern Ireland Executive was up and running, I had very good consultations with my opposite number, Ms Bairbre de Brún, and both our Departments continue to do that. As regards developing North-South collaboration and shared services, it makes far greater sense to do so. We can be of assistance to the North, and vice versa, with regard to certain tertiary services which involve a significant patient throughput. For example, heart and lung transplants provide the potential for an all-island service and we have provided funding to the Mater Hospital in this regard. The North-Western Health Board has already engaged with Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry by sharing consultant appointments for the provision of breast cancer services. That is a good example of cross-Border co-operation.
The principle emanating from the report on radiotherapy facilities by Mr. Donal Hollywood is that one must have a sufficient population catchment area and a sufficient throughput of patients to justify, guarantee and attract high quality, multi-disciplinary teams to provide the kind of services we require. The original cancer strategy in 1996 suggested the provision of radiotherapy facilities only in Cork, Dublin and possibly Galway. My predecessor moved on Galway early in 1997, so they are the three major centres that are currently being progressed. More than €25 million has been invested in St. Luke's Hospital and a further €9 million was invested in Cork University Hospital. There has also been a multi-million euro investment in Galway as part of the wider development of the city's University College Hospital. We have now sanctioned revenue funding for the recruitment of staff for the Galway radiotherapy centre.
Clearly, the services are not at the level they should be and I accept the Deputy's original point that we need greater radiotherapy capacity to cover the number of cancer patients that are presenting for treatment.
Could the Minister clarify when the report will be published? When can we expect to see it?
Within the next six to eight weeks.
