CAMPAIGNERS FOR retention of breast cancer services in Mayo have pledged to continue lobbying "up to the eleventh hour" despite last week's decision by Mayo General Hospital to concede defeat.
There were still "many questions" the people of Mayo "deserved answers to", including the timing of Mayo General Hospital's statement on the issue, Ms Mary McGreal, the campaign's spokeswoman, has said.
Early last week, Mayo General Hospital's manager, Mr Tony Canavan, said that it was clear that its proposal to retain its breast cancer service as a satellite of one of the designated eight national centres of excellence - University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) - was "not a viable alternative to the stated national policy".
This followed confirmation by Prof Tom Keane, interim director of the State's national cancer control programme (NCCP), that Mayo was among a number of units which would be transferred on a phased basis to the eight centres.
Mayo TDs Mr Dara Calleary (FF) and Ms Beverly Flynn (Ind) expressed "surprise" at the decision, and were in turn criticised by Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny and by the campaigners.
"They pledged support for us at a rally attended by nearly 10,000 people, they told us they were negotiating with Minister for Health Mary Harney, and they have let us down," Ms McGreal told The Irish Times.
"We support the concept of centres of excellence but why has the hospital conceded defeat so soon, when no other hospital has? We were under the impression its clinicians supported our stance," she said.
Both Ms Flynn, who is a member of the Oireachtas health committee, and Mr Calleary said that Mr Canavan's statement came "out of the blue" and they both first heard of the decision on Tuesday.
"What Mayo General was seeking was only a slight deviation from the national cancer strategy - it was not looking to become a centre of excellence, but to retain an existing cancer surgery service," Ms Flynn said.
"HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm described Mayo General's surgery team as one of the best in the State only last week," she added. "Now it looks as if a woman from Belmullet who requires surgery will be forced to travel through Castlebar to Galway to be operated on by a Mayo surgeon."
Mr Calleary said that without medical back-up, the campaign to retain Mayo General's satellite was effectively over. "Since the publication of the reports earlier this month on cancer misdiagnosis at Portlaoise, the atmosphere seems to have changed," he said.
However, Fine Gael leader and Mayo TD Mr Enda Kenny accused Ms Flynn and Mr Calleary of "hypocrisy" and said he "deplored" the "scapegoating of medical personnel in Mayo General Hospital" by the deputies.
"People should know that the gun was put to the medics' heads because of Government policy which left no option open to them. The blame lies with Fianna Fáil and their supporters.
"Fine Gael supports so-called centres of excellence. Fine Gael supports giving every patient the very best chance to recover and to live. But no service should be removed until a better option is clearly available," Mr Kenny said.
"A Castlebar-type facility is now to be opened in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, which is not based on patient care, but on geographical considerations," he added.
"This makes a mockery of the decision regarding Mayo General Hospital. Nor can people have any faith in a proposed system of patient travel plan for treatment, where some will receive a grant and some will not," he said, referring to Prof Keane's transport plan involving the Irish Cancer Society.