I, too, welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I am touched at the nice tone of the debate today, which represents how we all feel about cancer and the treatment services provided for it. It is only right that we should all be singing from the one hymn sheet and it would we wonderful if we could focus our minds on the best possible results for patients suffering from the dreadful scourge of cancer.
I commend Members on the Opposition benches, people like Senator O'Meara and others who have chased the Minister for Health and Children, as we have. I like to think that we all do that for one simple reason, to get the best possible outcome. It saddens me when it becomes a political football, but I am glad that most Members contributing today are not using it as such, and that we all seem to be coming from the one side.
I agree with Senator Feighan that cancer is a very emotive issue. It is a horrible, aggressive illness that affects all our lives and the lives of our families. I commend Senator Feighan on the excellent presentation he made in this House today at a difficult time for him personally.
I am delighted that the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, has seen fit to extend the BreastCheck programme to the entire country. I am especially delighted that many areas in the west like Galway, Sligo, Roscommon, Donegal, Mayo and Leitrim are to have the facility of a mobile unit where screening can be carried out. I support Senator Henry when she talks about the unique nature of generic cancers and how there should be special accommodation made for people who find themselves in that position.
It is about six weeks since we had a debate on breast cancer, and I covered quite a lot in that debate. I will not reiterate that debate or what my colleague, Senator Glynn, has said. I will talk about the services available from the North-Western Health Board in my constituency and in particular what is available in Sligo town.
A year ago my constituency was fortunate enough to secure the appointment of a medical oncologist, Dr. Paul Donnellan, and the lives of hundreds of men, women and children in the area served by the North-Western Health Board have changed dramatically. It is a huge development in the delivery of cancer care, a huge improvement over the situation 18 or 24 months ago, and a fine service. The Minister of State spoke today about the focus on patient-centred treatment. The unit we have in Sligo is small but very effective. I say small because I know that in the near future more beds will be sought.
The North-Western Health Board region has the services of two oncologists, one in Letterkenny and one in Sligo. I recognise the fact that cancer treatments are better delivered in centres of excellence. Senator Feighan may have been misquoted by my colleague – he actually said in "centres" rather than in "areas". We get the best delivery of such treatment, a fact adverted to by the Minister of State when he said it is not realistic to expect delivery of such a service in 30 acute hospitals. Everybody recognises that.
Sligo now has chemotherapy services available for all types of cancers, and travel to Dublin is necessary only for radiotherapy. In the not too distant future it is to be hoped that patients from the north-western area may have to travel only as far as Galway for that treatment. I am glad the days are gone when people had to make that terrible journey from Sligo and stay overnight, being very ill and away from the loving comfort of their own families and homes. We never want to return to such stories, because we had them regularly in the media, and I am glad we have moved on and are now capable of delivering such excellent treatment in our own areas by multi-disciplinary teams, the best of professionals.
I have no hesitation in saying that what Dr. Paul Donnellan is delivering in Sligo for the North-Western Health Board would be on a par with what is delivered in London, Paris or New York. Five hundred new patients have been seen by the medical oncologist in just over a year since he was appointed. Before that, every two weeks an oncologist from St. Luke's Hospital travelled to Sligo and saw people on an out-patient basis. That situation was never acceptable and I am glad it does not have to be relied on now.
I am also delighted to tell the House of the appointment of an oncology-trained lady pharmacist in Sligo, the first of her kind in my neck of the woods. Such oncology-trained pharmacists are rare, and they are under immense pressure, and over-worked. I am delighted too to report on the excellent nursing staff in the area, and on the numbers of nursing staff in the oncology unit who have an oncology diploma. No doubt this is partly because it is much cheaper for nurses and professionals like them to live outside the capital city of Dublin. Sligo and other areas in rural Ireland have certainly benefited from this.
The Sligo unit is small, with 14 beds. I have visited it and have been hugely impressed by the high level of care and the excellent service provided by the multi-disciplinary team. Those of us from the area are certainly delighted with our day-ward, our in-patient ward which allows patients stay on an overnight basis, and with our oncology-trained pharmacist.
The Minister for State touched on the area of clinical trials, and I am glad to see investment in that area. In Sligo, sadly, we have not yet got that far, and we need a second oncologist, or perhaps another oncology-trained pharmacist before we can embark on that. The clinical trials investment is an excellent initiative.
The North-Western Health Board has spent €1.2 million on chemotherapy drugs last year. It is a service which is getting busier all the time, and I would ask the Minister of State to keep an eye on that area, and note that in order for an excellent service to be provided, it must be adequately funded.
Like Senator Feighan, I welcome the smoking ban that the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, has been talking about. I am not a smoker, but I know that when I frequent a public house, I wake up the next morning feeling absolutely terrible. The Leas-Chathaoirleach is smiling, but the feeling is not due to the effects of alcohol, it is due to the passive smoking I have to endure.