Cancer treatment: Cork University Hospital (CUH) is set to reduce waiting lists and waiting times for cancer treatment with the provision of two linear accelerators as part of a €5 million package of funding from the Department of Health.
The funding will also mean the appointment of two additional radiation oncology consultants at CUH.
The Radiation/Oncology Department at CUH is currently the only centre outside Dublin offering radiotherapy treatment and the two linear accelerators - used to shrink tumours or prevent the recurrence of tumours after surgery - will replace one redundant unit and an existing cobalt treatment unit which delivers similar treatment, but at a lower dosage.
Work has already begun on removing the old equipment and refurbishing the rooms, ready for delivery of the first linear accelerator in October 2004 with the second expected to be up and running by mid-2005.
Business manager for the Radiation/Oncology Department at CUH, Yvonne Davidson, said the investment would help the hospital meet the ever-growing needs of patients affected by cancer in Cork, Kerry and the wider Munster area.
Ms Davidson said the replacement of the redundant linear accelerator - which has been out of commission since 2002 - will enable the department provide an extra 50 treatments a day, while the replacement of the cobalt machine - which currently treats 25 people a day - will also allow 50 people be treated daily.
"We should be providing an extra 75 or so treatments a day when these new machines are in service, which means that we will be able to reduce the current waiting list of three months. It also means we won't have to treat people so late in the evening - at the moment some patients are receiving their treatments, by appointment, at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.," she said.
CUH deputy director of capital projects, Pat McCarthy, said developments were set to continue and CUH would ultimately have eight linear accelerators, making it the largest centre for radiation treatment in Ireland. "The design brief for this expansion has now been submitted for approval to the Department of Health and Children," he said.
Some €4 million of the investment will be spent on the linear accelerators, to be supplied by Siemens Medical. The remaining €1 million will fund two additional radiation oncology consultants, as well as the support staff necessary to run and commission the treatment units, by early 2005.
