Helen Keogh
Ceist:52 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Health where radiotherapy treatment facilities will be available for the treatment of cancer. [10385/97]
Written Answers. - Cancer Treatment.
Limerick East): Radiotherapy services are currently available in St. Luke's Hospital, Dublin and in Cork University Hospital. Due to the nature and very high cost of radiotherapy it is necessary to confine the resources available for the service to a limited number of locations.
St. Luke's Hospital is currently being developed as a national centre of excellence in the care and treatment of cancer patients with a sum of over £20 million being invested on improving treatment services and a complete refurbishment of ward facilities. To date, a sum of £3 million has bene spent on additional radiotherapy equipment which includes two new linear accelerators. In relation to improvements at Cork University Hospital, a design team has been commissioned to design an expanded and upgraded radiotherapy department at the hospital. The work of this design team is ongoing.
The question of locating a third radiotherapy centre in the western region was considered in the context of the National Cancer Strategy. The expert advice available was that there must be a sufficient volume of patients for the service in order to maintain the high level of medical and technical expertise needed for such a high-technology unit. The National Cancer Strategy concludes that there may be scope for developing radiotherapy services in Galway at a future stage. However, it would not be feasible to contemplate commencing the service until the major capital project to upgrade certain aspects of University College Hospital, Galway has been completed. The contract for this project was signed recently.
I will keep the question of locating a radiotherapy service in the western region under review.
Helen Keogh
Ceist:53 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Health the reason for the delay in reporting results of cervical tests in each health board area. [10386/97]
Limerick East): I wish to reassure the Deputy that all priority cervical smear tests are dealt with immediately. In a small number of laboratories the waiting period for the reporting of routine cervical smear results exceeds the recommended interval of one month. The reasons for this include increased workload and the introduction of rapid rescreening of slides as a quality control measure.
I have approved a programme worth £1.5 million which will put in place additional consultant and cytologists posts. This enhancement of the cervical cytology service will ensure the reporting of results within one month as far as possible.