UNCERTAINTY ABOUT the future of cancer services at Sligo General Hospital is causing added stress for patients, according to both a local hospital consultant and a cancer support group.
The claims have been made as hundreds of campaigners are preparing to travel to the Dáil later this month where a Fine Gael motion calling for the retention of services in Sligo and Castlebar will be moved.
There was uproar in the north west last week when party leader Enda Kenny revealed that the motion would call for the retention of services for a period of five years – only until the proposed centre of excellence in Galway has been properly established and resourced.
But the party’s health spokesman, Dr James Reilly, yesterday confirmed that the controversial “five-year clause” had been dropped.
It is expected that the motion in his name will be moved on May 20th.
The Taoiseach recently promised at a meeting with local party TDs and Senators to raise the issue of breast cancer services in Sligo with the director of Cancer Control Prof Tom Keane.
He also gave an undertaking to Junior Health Minister Dr Jimmy Devins, Deputy Eamon Scanlon and Senators Marc MacSharry and Geraldine Feeney that he would report back to them before stepping down and yesterday Deputy Scanlon said he expected that to happen today.
As campaigners vow to continue the fight, local consultant surgeon Dr Tim O’Hanrahan warned that patients and staff were now “in limbo”, given the lack of details available about the proposed transfer of services to Galway.
The chairwoman of the Sligo Cancer Support Centre Mary Shivnan also said that uncertainty about the future of the service was adding to the stress of patients.
Dr O’Hanrahan, who is vehemently opposed to the transfer and who has argued that patients will be the biggest sufferers, said many of them were now feeling let down.
“They are very disappointed. They feel that something that is working well is being taken away with no guarantee that anything better is being put in its place,” he said.
The consultant who specialises in breast surgery said that he and his patients and staff were in limbo, as they had been shown no plan and had been given no idea when the move would take place.
“My concern is that there is no plan,” he said.
The consultant said that the HSE had called for local leadership on the issue but he said it would be “immoral” for him to try to convince patients that they would be better off in Galway, given the lack of evidence.
Ms Shivnan said the support centre had been contacted by several patients who were wondering whether they would be able to finish their treatment in Sligo.
“It is an added stress when you are unsure whether you will continue to see the doctor who knows you and who you have faith in,” she said.
The health service has devised a plan to provide cancer surgery at eight designated centres only over the next two years.
Four of these are in Dublin with one each in Galway, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford – and a special outreach arrangement for patients in Letterkenny. The HSE claims that this will produce better outcomes for patients.
