John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I wish to echo the sentiments of many of my colleagues in paying tribute to the many years of outstanding work carried out in the field of cancer care at St. Luke's Hospital. Many of my constituents have been treated at St. Luke's, which was a recognised centre of excellence for Ireland. The sense of care, concern and support was outstanding. However, its inception into the HSE fraternity exposes the deep flaw in the current national cancer care strategy. Dublin has four cancer centres of excellence while there are none situated north of the line from Galway to Dublin. Sligo has a regional hospital, with a staff of 1,400 providing a range of highly specialised services extending to 250,000 people in Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, north Roscommon, west Cavan, and east Mayo. Sligo General Hospital bore the brunt of HSE cutbacks in terms of cancer service cuts as well as budgetary cuts over the past 12-24 months, affecting all services across the hospital, from oncology to orthopaedic care. The hospital has already been dealt a severe blow with the removal of breast cancer mammography and surgical services under the national cancer control programme. This move came despite the clear scientific and medical evidence that Sligo General Hospital was providing cancer care outcomes that compared favourably with, and indeed in some cases exceeded, those obtained in top cancer care clinics in the United States.

Upwards of 4,000 mammograms were carried out at the hospital each year, which was well in excess of the critical mass required for the establishment of a centre of excellence. This is relevant also to the outreach service if there is not to be a dedicated centre. When Fine Gael is back in Government, I hope it will re-establish the outreach service working with Galway. The multi-disciplinary team headed by a consultant, Mr. Tim O'Hanrahan, was responsible for the highly favourable and top level outcomes for breast cancer care at Sligo General Hospital.

The decision also ignored the demography of the region. The reality is that most cancers are age-related. The north west region, served by Sligo General Hospital has the highest percentage of elderly people in the country. The patients of Sligo General Hospital and the people of the north west have been categorised as second class citizens by the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney and the HSE.

I quote from the mission statement of Sligo General Hospital: "Sligo General Hospital is committed to the delivery of a high quality patient centred service in a safe, equitable and efficient manner". With the best of intentions from hospital staff and management, the hospital is severely curtailed in delivering upon this mission statement because of the policies of the Government, and the HSE. Clearly there is nothing equitable in the draconian budgetary and service cuts being applied across the hospital. The Government and the HSE have a clear and deliberate policy to downgrade the hospital from one which provides essential acute services to over 250,000 people in the entire north west region, to one that will only provide for non-essential and elective services on a local basis. This is the agenda being pursued.

Notwithstanding the current €12 million budgetary cutbacks being implemented in the hospital, a further €12 million budgetary cut is now being proposed by the HSE in Sligo General Hospital, meaning the overall cutbacks will total €24 million. This is a massive cut. It will have a devastating impact on the cardio and angiography services in the hospital. Up to now, Sligo General Hospital offered a three week turnaround time for patients, which is excellent. Under the cutback proposals, coronary angiography patients will have to be referred to St. James's Hospital in Dublin, meaning what was once a three week turnaround time for patients in the north west will become a six month waiting time. Lives will be lost.

This is a critical service. I appeal to the Minister to examine it, which is provided by an outstanding team led by a top consultant. The team is recognised in the region. The hospital serves 250,000. I emphasise the three week turnaround, which will have an extraordinary impact. Patients will have to be referred to St. James's Hospital to be placed on the waiting list. Lives will be lost.

This is just another example of the contempt in which patients in this region are treated by this Government and the HSE. I appeal to Deputy Scanlon and the former Minister of State, Deputy Devins, who knows the importance of this service to Sligo. Next week, Deputies will have a unique opportunity to vote on the motion of confidence in the Government to be taken next Tuesday. The two Deputies are not members of the parliamentary party and say they adjudicate on every decision as it arises. Between now and Tuesday they should talk to the Taoiseach. The most critical infrastructural development of patient care in Sligo provides them with an opportunity to put a clear marker down to the Taoiseach. It is bad enough to lose cancer services but now the coronary care, cardio care and angiography services are threatened. We want a clear statement from Deputies Devins and Scanlon prior to the vote on Tuesday that the Taoiseach has given assurances these services will be ring-fenced and funding secured at Sligo General Hospital. This matter is critical.

Not alone will coronary care be affected by the current proposals but every essential acute service across the facility will suffer as a result. This is where politics counts. It is where we exercise the mandate we were given when we were elected to this House. Deputies Scanlon and Devins have a unique opportunity because they have a clear assessment of the local position but I have not seen much of it on the ground.

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