Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have been placing this motion for a Topical Issue debate for two weeks. It is an insult from the Government that the Minister has not turned up in person to hear the concerns that I am relaying on behalf of people in Donegal.

In recent weeks, I have been contacted by countless constituents across Donegal, each of whom has raised serious concerns about the health and well-being of their loved ones who are undergoing chemotherapy following cancer diagnoses. While each gave accounts of a relative, friend or loved one who was facing into his or her unique cancer journey, their stories shared a deeply alarming common trend - they were all being denied treatment at their local acute public hospital in Letterkenny and were instead being forced to travel four, five or, in some instances, six hours to Galway to undergo chemotherapy.

With each new call, text, e-mail or Facebook message that I received, the crux of the story remained the same. It was the story of a seriously ill cancer patient being turned away from the local oncology department and redirected some 250 km distant, forced to endure all of the difficulties - health, financial and so on - that such a journey entails.

Having heard these reports, I immediately contacted the hospital. Last week, management confirmed our worst fears, namely, that Letterkenny University Hospital was no longer in a position to accept new patient referrals for chemotherapy. In its reply, management informed me that the decision to suspend this service for newly referred patients was taken due to the resignation of a locumoncologist consultant who had been providing cover for the vacant medical oncologist post at Letterkenny. Consequently, management has stated that, in the interests of patient safety, it was not clinically appropriate to start new patients on chemotherapy regimes when the hospital could only cover three of the six weeks until the new consultant was in place. Management informs me that, after my intervention, the new consultant will be in place on 6 March.

How was this allowed to happen? Why are some of the most seriously ill people in my county being forced to endure such suffering as to have to leave their homes, communities, families and all that they know and travel hundreds of kilometres to Galway? Will the Minister of State explain to the people of Donegal, the patients, the families that are affected and the professional staff in our hospital why it seems that action has not been taken to prevent the withdrawal of these services? Why is the consultant in Galway not travelling up to Letterkenny instead of asking these sick and vulnerable patients to travel to Galway for treatment that should be available, and had been available, in their local hospital?

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