Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I regret that the Tánaiste has left, but she has spent much time in the House today. On Monday, she visited Letterkenny General Hospital to become familiar with general medical services in the county, particularly at the hospital, including the lack of adequate cancer services in the north west.

It would be an understatement to say that matters in Letterkenny General Hospital took a turn for the worse this morning. As they indicated a number of months ago, consultants are refusing to take on new breast cancer patients. This is an unprecedented step and shows the frustration of hospital staff. It is designed as a final wake up call about the urgency of addressing the situation. The consultants have been calling for the appointment of a permanent breast surgeon at the hospital and, now that their 1 June deadline for a response has not been met by the Department of Health and Children, they will not treat new patients referred from this morning. It is deeply regrettable that in the wake of the Tánaiste's visit, no progress was made by her Department in seeking to avert this action.

This is yet another blow to the provision of cancer services in County Donegal, which are already diminished by the absence of radiotherapy services and the BreastCheck programme. Government inaction has now led to the inferior cancer services available to the people of County Donegal and the whole north west being reduced even further.

We have become immune to the vague responses of the Tánaiste, her Department and the Health Service Executive. The delay in rolling out BreastCheck to the north west is not acceptable and the suggestion that they should travel to Belfast for radiotherapy is inadequate for Donegal patients. Tragically, the absence of radiotherapy services closer to home has led to many women enduring radical and traumatic surgery instead of the arduous journey for treatment. Many more women will do so in the future and, unfortunately, many women and men could lose their battle with cancer if the Government continues to fail the people of the area, in particular the people of Donegal.

The Donegal Action on Cancer Care group is spearheading a countywide campaign to improve cancer services in the area. A fortnight ago, a march and a meeting were organised in Letterkenny, which attracted more than 10,000 people, the silent majority as it were expressing their dissatisfaction with the inadequacy of cancer services in the county.

Donegal Action on Cancer Care has put forward a five point programme for Donegal designed to improve cancer services and medical services in general. The first point in that programme is the immediate appointment of a permanent breast surgeon in Letterkenny General Hospital, the absence of which has brought about today's crisis. The second point relates to the provision of a satellite unit for a radiation unit for the north west. It is amazing that when the radiation strategy was laid out several years ago, there was not even one centre north of the Dublin-Galway line. We were told to depend on Belfast, which has not yet come to fruition and is not the answer to our problem. On breast screening, it calls for urgent remedial action to be taken to reduce the backlog of women waiting for mammograms in the current absence of roll-out of BreastCheck in the north west. As a matter of urgency there must be funding designated for patients and their families who must travel for treatment. All Donegal patients who require radium treatment must travel to Dublin. On Tuesday I spent two hours in St. Luke's in Dublin and there were at least 12 Donegal patients there away from their families. I am not denigrating the accommodation or care but it is important that those undergoing cancer treatment are in the bosom of their families. If this was available in the north west, they could go home to the families every week.

This is not the first time I have raised this and I have raised it again today because of what has happened this morning. I appeal to the Minister of State, who has replied to this before, to give the people of Donegal some hope, particularly the 70 women in the county who are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. From now on, no new patients will be accepted in Letterkenny and alternative arrangements must be put in place.

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