Protesters say private radiotherapy unit is not the answer. Theresa Judge reports
Two large private consortia are competing with each other in a race to build Waterford's first private hospital with each saying they want to agree a deal with the State to provide radiotherapy for public patients - the latter issue being an issue of much contention in the south east region.
Each group insists its project will proceed but it is generally accepted that the city could only sustain one private hospital. The two proposed hospitals are very similar and would offer a range of services and cost some €45 to €50 million to build.
A planning application for a third private health day-care facility to be located on the outskirts of Waterford over the Kilkenny border at Ferrybank has also been lodged but its promoters do not plan to offer radiotherapy.
The lack of radiotherapy services in the south east, which forces cancer patients to travel to either Dublin or Cork, has become a huge political issue in the Waterford area. More than 15,000 people took part in a protest march through the city the weekend before the June local elections and Fianna Fáil suffered badly at the polls, its representation on Waterford City Council falling from four to just one seat.
Attention has now shifted to the possibility of a private hospital providing radiotherapy. However, campaigners are adamant that this is not a solution to the problem.
Cancer Care Alliance (CCA)spokeswoman Jane Bailey said this debate was distracting from the core issue, which is the need to provide the three cancer treatments - surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy - on one site.
"And that site is at Waterford Regional Hospital which has been designated a regional cancer centre, where cancer patients have surgery and chemotherapy. All the reports show that there is at least a 20 per cent better outcome for patients when the three treatments are provided on the same site in a multidisciplinary approach," she said.
It was unacceptable, she said, that patients from some regions would have better outcomes than those from other areas.
While CCA says the campaign for radiotherapy at Waterford Regional Hospital (WRH) will go on, the contest between the two large private consortia is reaching a crucial stage. Both have included radiotherapy facilities in their plans and this has no doubt been a help in overcoming planning obstacles.
One of the groups, led by Dr Ken Patterson, a consultant anaesthetist/pain specialist at WRH and local GP Dr Mark Rowe, has already got planning permission from Waterford County Council for their hospital at Butlerstown North, just outside the city boundary. The deadline has also passed without any objections being lodged with An Bord Pleanála.
In granting planning permission the council agreed to contravene its county development plan as rezoning was required, but it also imposed a condition that the facility cannot open without providing radiotherapy.
A developer, Carlow-based Stephen Murphy of Eurocare, has since joined with the doctors and is to build the hospital. Discussions are now ongoing with an US-based group, UPMC, who would operate the hospital.
The other group, Harlequin Healthcare, is proposing to build its hospital at Kilbarry within the boundary of Waterford City Council. It too requires a contravention of the relevant development plan and two objections to the proposal have been lodged by people living nearby.
Harlequin owns and run St Joseph's private hospital in Sligo and is planning on building or acquiring a number of similar hospitals around the country. Those involved in Harlequin include Naas-based developer Jerry Conlan and Dr Con Power.
Its chief executive, Joe Kelly, admits there is a race on but says that while the Patterson/Rowe project has got full planning approval, "they are not hugely ahead of us" and he was confident the Harlequin project would succeed.
Mr Quinn said however that while there is provision for a radiotherapy centre in the planning application, he could not give a commitment that it would be provided without State involvement. "The only way it could be done would be in the context of a partnership arrangement with the public sector - that is our view."
In response to a letter signed by 15 consultants at WRH and sent to the city council in relation to Harlequin's planning application saying the company had not engaged in talks with them, Mr Kelly said he believed there may have been a misunderstanding as there had been a meeting early in 2003, and the consultants may not have realised they were the same group. A meeting with consultants is to take place later this week, he said.
Dr Patterson, meanwhile, said he was confident work would start on their hospital within weeks.
He did not envisage any problems arising from a condition of planning which requires them to reach agreement with the National Roads Authority before starting the project over the timing of its completion so as to tie in with road improvements.
He said there was both an economic argument and a "humanitarian argument" for public patients to be sent to their facility.
The annual transportation and accommodation costs alone for patients going to Cork or Dublin from the south-east is €3 million, while they could provide the treatment for €2.5 million, he said.
"Yes, there is no guarantee [that public patients would be referred]. But I think that when it comes to negotiating with the Department, that they will," Dr Patterson said.
He accepted that "in an ideal world" it would be better to have radiotherapy provided at WRH, but added there were many stand-alone radiotherapy centres in other countries that worked very effectively.