Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

The letter from Dr. Seamus O'Reilly to the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, which was published in yesterday's Irish Examiner was unprecedented, just as was last week's protest by 36 general practitioners in the grounds of Kerry General Hospital. The number of malignant cancers diagnosed in residents of Kerry in 2001, the latest year for which we have official figures, was 522 — 249 females and 273 males. Breast cancer with 74 cases was the predominant cancer type among women while prostate cancer was the most predominant among men with 76 cases. Estimated figures for 2002 and 2003 are 569 and 598, respectively. These figures represent a substantial increase of 22.7% over the total for 1994 when 462 people were diagnosed with cancer.

Recipients of cancer services in Kerry are also very much affected by the level of service in Cork. Since the resignation of Dr. Breathnach, a temporary oncologist visits Kerry General Hospital each fortnight. He is so overworked that he is unable to see all the patients during his visit and consequently they must either wait a further two weeks or go to Cork to be seen. Kerry General Hospital has no oncology beds for inpatients. Patients must be accommodated in general medical and surgical wards in the hospital. These wards are simply not suitable for oncology patients and certainly do not represent best practice. Although the hospital has a palliative care consultant, it has no beds for people dying of cancer and they are also accommodated in general medical and surgical wards.

While a day ward to accommodate day procedures was built and equipped five years ago, as it is not staffed it remains unopened. A high dependency surgical unit also remains closed and lies idle in the hospital. While it is fully equipped, the hospital has no staff to run it. In winter when the intensive care unit is overstretched, many patients, especially those suffering from bowel cancer, whose surgery is cancelled owing to the lack of beds in the intensive care unit could be accommodated in the high dependency surgical unit. Recently the sod was turned for a day care hospice unit in the grounds of Kerry General Hospital. However, this will be substantially funded by the people of Kerry and the committee will need to take out a substantial loan to build it. The Health Service Executive will only provide €500,000 of the total budget of €3.5 million.

Last year 3,000 patient visits were made to the oncology day unit at Kerry General Hospital and more than 800 new cancer patients were seen in the Cork and Kerry region. Dr. O'Reilly, who is now the only consultant medical oncologist serving a population of 500,000, following the departure of Dr. Breathnach, feels the region needs four consultants rather than two.

If BreastCheck was available to women in Kerry, the number of people visiting Kerry General Hospital would be much higher. In the counties where BreastCheck was rolled out 90% of women between the ages of 50 and 64 who were called for a mammogram attended the clinic. Evidence suggests that mammograms every two years reduce breast cancer rates by up to 30%. If the service was rolled out in Kerry, 10,000 women would be eligible for free screening and I am sure more people would be diagnosed with cancer.

It is recognised that the early detection of cancer by screening is one of the strategic areas of cancer prevention. Treatment in County Kerry is symptomatic, because women are only treated when their general practitioner refers them for a mammogram to Kerry General Hospital, following the discovery of a lump. There are no screening services in the county. As Dr. O'Reilly pointed out in his letter to the Minister, women in Kerry and Cork are subjected to more extensive surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal treatment because of late detection.

I ask the Minister of State to arrange that a consultant oncologist be provided on a weekly visit basis to Tralee General Hospital because of the increasing level of cancer in the county. We also need a day ward and staff immediately to accommodate day procedures. Finally, the Kerry-Cork region needs four consultant oncologists, not just two.

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