THE TRANSFER of breast cancer services from Sligo General Hospital to Galway will go ahead next month, according to the head of the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) Prof Tom Keane.
Prof Keane has written to GPs in Sligo in recent days telling them Sligo General Hospital will no longer accept new symptomatic breast cancer referrals from August 6th. They have been told they should instead refer patients with symptoms of breast cancer to University College Hospital Galway from that date.
In his letter, Prof Keane acknowledges the controversy which the plan has provoked. “The proposed transfer of diagnostic and surgical breast cancer services from Sligo General Hospital has been a matter of considerable discussion over the past 18 months.
“I wish to inform you that arrangements and resources are now in place at the breast centre in University Hospital Galway to accommodate new symptomatic breast referrals in compliance with national standards. Accordingly, Sligo General Hospital will no longer accept new symptomatic breast referrals as of August 6th, 2009.”
The planned transfer of breast cancer services from Sligo to Galway has been the subject of ongoing protests in the county by cancer campaigners as well as consultants and family doctors.
The move is part of an overall strategy to centralise breast cancer diagnosis and surgery at eight specialist centres in the State.
To date, breast services have been moved to larger centres from all but three hospitals – those in Sligo, Tallaght and the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital in Cork. The transfer of services from Tallaght to St James’s Hospital is expected in coming weeks while the transfer from the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital to Cork University Hospital (CUH) is due later in the year.
Meanwhile, in relation to Sligo patients requiring breast cancer services, Prof Keane’s letter also says plans to provide a single alternative referral centre in Dublin for Sligo patients wishing to go there rather than to Galway, has been difficult because GPs in the county have not indicated how many breast cancer patients from Sligo normally travel to Dublin for treatment.
His letter states he wrote to Sligo GPs seeking this information last March but “a very small number” of GPs replied. He subsequently received a letter from Dr Frank Hayes on behalf of the Sligo GP Society indicating GPs would not co-operate with the process.
Prof Keane writes: “As a result, the NCCP is unable to facilitate an orderly and safe referral process to an alternative single designated centre in Dublin which will maintain the integrity of the patient care pathway for those patients who are diagnosed with breast cancer and require chemotherapy subsequently in Sligo.”
He says he is still willing to work with GPs to resolve this issue.
Lily McMorrow of Save our Cancer Services Sligo said her group were holding a public meeting this Wednesday night to see if anything could be done at this late stage to stop the transfer.
A spokeswoman for the NCCP said Galway had sufficient resources. “Any issue regarding funding for cancer services in Galway was addressed by the HSE some weeks ago with the confirmation that there would be no reduction or change to the funding for cancer services,” she said.