Hospital Services.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2004

Wednesday, 3 March 2004

Questions (43)

Olivia Mitchell

Question:

114 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of specialist breast units that have been established as recommended in the 2001 report on the development of services for symptomatic breast disease; and the number that have the full recommended complement of multidisciplinary professionals. [6892/04]

Written answers

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

Since 1997 there has been a cumulative additional investment in excess of €550 million in the development of appropriate treatment and care services for people with cancer, including breast cancer. This is reflected in a significant increase in activity, with breast cancer surgery increasing by 39% nationally. A total of 81 additional consultants have been approved during this period. Specialities include oncologists, histopathologists, radiologists, haematologists, palliative care, radiation oncologists and surgeons with a special interest in breast disease. This data, broken down by speciality, is set out on the following table.

	Oncologist	Histo-pathologist	Radiologist	Haematolo- gist	Palliative Care	Radiation Oncologist	Surgeon SI Breast	Total
ERHA	5	5	6	0	3	2	5	26
MHB	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	6
MWHB	1	1	0	2	1	0	1	8
NEHB	*2	3	2	1	1	0	2	10
NWHB	2	1	0	2	1	0	1	8
SEHB	3	1	1	1	1	0	2	10
SHB	2	3	1	1	0	0	1	8
WHB	2	4	1	1	1	1	1	11
Total	15	19	12	9	8	3	14	81

*ERHA posts linked to the NEHB

In addition, 195 cancer nurse specialists have been appointed during the period 2000 to 2002, including nurses in breast care, palliative home care and oncology. A separate table by health board and speciality is set out below.

Breakdown of Clinical Cancer Nurse Specialist Appointments

Nurse Specialists	ERHA	MWHB	MHB	NEHB	NWHB	SEHB	SHB	WHB	Total
Breast Care	5	2	1	1	2	1	2	3	17
Cancer Co- Ordinator	3								3
Chemotherapy	2								2
Oncology	3			5	5	3	7	5	28
Oncology Liaison	3					1		2	6
Oncology/ Breast Care						3			3
Oncology/ Palliative Care			1						1
Palliative Home Care	39	14	7	10	6	16	14	11	117
Stoma Care	8			3	2	1	1	2	17
Stoma and Breast Care		1							1
	63	17	9	19	15	25	24	23	195

With regard to the development of specialist units on the basis recommended in the report on the development of services for symptomatic breast disease, five units are operational. These are at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital, St. James's Hospital, Tallaght Hospital and Waterford Regional Hospital. The other eight units are at various stages of development.