Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for delivering the response and hopefully she will take the message back to the Minister that we are not satisfied with the answer that has been provided. The response states:

[T]he requirements of the Letterkenny breast cancer service in the medium term are being assessed. This is being done in the light of the clear evidence that patients who are operated on by surgeons who carry out higher volumes of surgery achieve better outcomes.

Perhaps the Minister of State will indicate where this clear evidence is to be found. As I said earlier, some 25% of surgeons across the service in the so-called centres of excellence actually carry out less than the 50 operations touted as being the desired number to justify having a breast surgeon. The figure of 50 operations is not backed up by any clinical evidence or any research internationally. Clearly, it is an arbitrary figure picked by the HSE to stifle the development of services at facilities such as Letterkenny University Hospital. This is wrong.

The Ministers need to deliver on their promises. I have attended some of the meetings that took place with previous Ministers regarding the cancer services at Letterkenny University Hospital. We hear plenty of kind words and sentiment at those meetings but we see no delivery. To my mind, there must be something going on behind the scenes. Is it that the system is being allowed to run down to such an extent that people will be happy to go to Galway and that the HSE will then have achieved what it wants in closing the service in Letterkenny University Hospital?

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