Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, for attending the midnight shift here in the Chamber. This Topical Issue matter is entitled mammography services at Sligo Regional Hospital, but it could have been called the impact of political decisions, broken promises and the very future of a hospital. If I may, I will set the context for Sligo Regional Hospital. The hospital serves a catchment area covering counties Sligo, Leitrim, south Donegal and west Cavan and even covers parts of counties Roscommon, Longford and Mayo. It provides a wide range of specialty services and generally is highly regarded for the quality and outcome of services. I have a personal interest in the future of the hospital because I spent a number of years working there and all of my children and grandchildren were born in that hospital. Consequently, it is close to my heart, as well as to the hearts of most people in the north west.

Up to 2009, women with breast cancer could avail of a full range of services at the hospital. Again, the service was highly regarded and the patient outcomes compared favourably with the best national and international performance standards. It made such a difference to women with breast cancer that they were not obliged to travel to Galway or Dublin for the services because it is a six-hour round trip to Galway for people from the furthest end of Sligo Regional Hospital's catchment area, which is a very long trip. In 2008-2009, the then Fianna Fáil-led Government announced that the breast cancer services were to relocate from Sligo to Galway. That announcement stunned local people, who spontaneously arranged several protest marches, which were among the biggest marches I have ever seen in Sligo. However, the Government and the HSE were not for turning. Spokespersons for Fine Gael and the Labour Party promised before the 2011 general election that if elected to Government, they would reverse this decision and restore full breast cancer services to Sligo Regional Hospital. That promise was a major factor in the 2011 election, which resulted in two Fine Gael Deputies, thankfully one Sinn Féin Deputy and no Deputy representing Fianna Fáil being elected for the constituency. Unfortunately, it did not take long for me and the people in the constituency to realise this was an empty promise and the incoming Government did not keep its word. As a sop, it stated that a luxury bus would be used to transport women with breast cancer between Sligo and Galway and that bus did operate for a couple of months before being withdrawn.

I will now turn to the issue of mammography.

Mammography equipment at Sligo Regional Hospital has lain unused for some time because, according to HSE, there are not enough trained mammographers to operate it. Also, in the interests of fairness and accuracy, the HSE today advised me that the mammography equipment was decommissioned as it was more than nine years old and does not meet current guidelines. Clearly it did not strike the decision-makers that the equipment could and should have been replaced.

The HSE made gave a solemn promise to politicians and people in the north west that it would ensure the necessary mammographers would be trained and assigned to the service at Sligo Regional Hospital. This equipment has been spirited away. When I last spoke on this issue I was attributed as saying that the equipment had been stolen from the hospital. I would like to correct the record. What I actually said was that the equipment had been spirited away because "stolen" implies an illegality and spirited away means only that it was removed with a lack of openness.

The HSE has now announced that mammography services will not be provided at Sligo Regional Hospital. This means women who could have availed of the service in Sligo must now travel to Galway or Dublin. This is an outrageous breach of several promises and a slap in the face for the women of Sligo. It is not good enough. Can this decision be reversed? Any person, agency or Government that cannot or will not keep their word should not be making decisions on behalf of sick people.

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