Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)

The purpose of this purchase is to have a strategic land bank that will be of benefit to acute services.

On breast surgery services in the north-eastern region, the HSE has informed the Department that following the resignation of the lead breast surgeon for the region, breast surgery has been carried out in the Louth-Meath hospital group at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. The post of lead breast surgeon for the region, based in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, is scheduled to be advertised by the Public Appointments Service on Thursday, 13 October 2005, with a closing date of 10 November 2005.

Since 1997, approximately €37 million in cumulative additional funding has been made available to the north-eastern region for the development of appropriate treatment and care services for people with cancer, including a sum of €600,000 which was allocated this year for cancer services in the region. This investment has enabled the funding of an additional ten consultant posts and support staff in key areas of cancer care across the region. BreastCheck, the national breast screening programme, has been available to women in the 50 to 64 age group throughout the north-eastern region since 2000. Mobile units provide screening to women in the target age group approximately every two years. Follow-up treatment for those diagnosed with breast cancer under the programme is provided in the BreastCheck clinical units in Dublin.

We can only maintain progress in the fight against breast disease if the delivery of high quality care and adherence to best practice comprise our main priority. For this reason, the Tánaiste recently established a national quality assurance group, under the chairmanship of Professor Niall O'Higgins, for symptomatic breast disease services. It is an important milestone in the development of quality breast disease services. This group will develop an agreed set of interdisciplinary performance indicators for the management of symptomatic breast disease. The objective is to ensure that the same expert guidelines apply to women regardless of the hospital in which they are treated.

The arrangements I have outlined which are being put in place by the Health Service Executive are designed to enhance the overall level of hospital services across the Louth-Meath hospital group.

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