Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

Ministers have Government commitments. I welcome this opportunity to set out the current position on the restructuring of cancer services with particular reference to Sligo General Hospital. The HSE has appointed Professor Tom Keane as national cancer control director to lead and manage the establishment of the national cancer control programme. The delivery of cancer services on a programmatic basis will ensure equity of access to services and equality of patient outcome irrespective of geography. This will involve significant realignment of cancer services to move from the present fragmented system of care to one which is consistent with international best practice in cancer control.

The decisions of the HSE on four managed cancer control networks and eight cancer centres will be implemented on a managed and phased basis. The HSE plans to have completed 50% of the transition of services to the cancer centres by the end of 2008 and 80% to 90% by the end of 2009. The HSE has confirmed that services will not be transferred until appropriate capacity has been developed in the receiving centres.

Sligo General Hospital has a dedicated inpatient oncology unit, comprising 15 beds, and a dedicated day services unit, comprising eight beds. The HSE has informed the Department that in 2006, Sligo General Hospital had 285 patient discharges from its inpatient unit and 3,849 discharges from its day care unit.

The HSE has designated University College Hospital Galway and Limerick Regional Hospital as the two cancer centres in the managed cancer control network for the HSE western region which includes counties Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal. The designation of cancer centres aims to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care while at the same time allowing local access to services where appropriate. Where diagnosis and treatment planning is directed and managed by multi-disciplinary teams based at the cancer centres, much of the treatment, other than surgery, can be delivered in local hospitals such as Sligo. Cancer day care units will continue to have an important role in delivering services to patients as close to home as possible.

Patients from Sligo needing radiotherapy are referred to the radiation oncology unit at University College Hospital Galway for treatment. The HSE has informed the Department that in 2006, University College Hospital Galway treated almost 1,000 radiation oncology patients. The number of treatments increased from 11,300 in 2005 to 18,500 in 2006. The hospital expects treatments provided to increase by 7% this year over last year. The Department and the HSE have been working closely on the examination of procurement options in order to expedite the delivery of the national plan for radiation oncology. The Minister has been assured that the HSE will have in place radiation oncology capacity to meet the needs of the population by 2010. After 2010 the HSE will continue to increase capacity to ensure that these needs continue to be met. The Minister is fully confident that this will be achieved through a combination of direct Exchequer provision, public private partnership and, where appropriate, the use of the private sector.

In conclusion, the Government is committed to making the full range of cancer services available and accessible to cancer patients throughout Ireland in accordance with best international standards. The developments outlined will ensure that a comprehensive service is available to all patients with cancer in the western region, including Sligo.

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