Cancer treatment A decision to choose two Dublin hospitals to provide radiotherapy for public patients has been delayed by several months writes Eithne Donnellan
The decision was to have been made by the Department of Health in February but is not now likely to be reached until very late in the year at the earliest.
When an expert report on the development of radiotherapy was published last October recommending that the service be provided at two centres in Dublin and one each in Cork and Galway, the Minister for Health Mr Martin said a decision on the two Dublin sites would be made by February. Four months on, it has emerged that the Department of Health has only written in recent days to the major Dublin hospitals seeking their submissions.
Many of the hospitals are keen to bid for the service, and have been engaging consultancy firms since late last year to advise them. Freedom of Information documents show the Mater Hospital has asked Magahy & Co to co-ordinate its bid while Prospectus Consulting has been engaged by Beaumont Hospital to help it make its submission.
Submissions must be costed and submitted by October 8th.
The expert report on radiotherapy, also referred to as the Hollywood report, said radiotherapy should be provided at Cork University Hospital and University College Hospital Galway as well as at two unidentified locations in Dublin. It indicated the three modalities of cancer treatment - surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy - should be provided on one site for best outcomes, meaning the national treatment centre at St Luke's Hospital, Rathgar, could not continue as it is.
Mr Martin has asked the Department of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Jim Kiely, to advise him on where the service should be sited on Dublin's north and south side. Dr Kiely will consider the submissions with representatives of the Royal College of Radiologists in London, the US National Institutes of Health and the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.