FG Senator calls on Mary Harney and Brendan Drumm to address serious budget problem at designated cancer centre
PATIENTS WITH advanced cancer in the west of Ireland could be denied critical end-of-life treatment as a result of the underfunding of cancer drugs at University Hospital Galway (UHG).
Fine Gael Galway West Senator Fidelma Healy Eames has called for the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, and Prof Brendan Drumm to address the situation at one of the country’s designated cancer centres before it begins to seriously affect terminally ill patients.
The Senator has highlighted in the Senate the fact that the Galway hospital has not yet received the €12 million in funding and 30 extra staff promised as part of its designation as a national cancer centre.
She said: “University Hospital Galway has historically been the victim of underfunding.
“It is now facing a €22 million budget deficit this year and is required by the HSE to make cuts to address this deficit.
“One of the major contributory factors to this budgetary situation is the fact that UCHG has not yet received €12 million for cancer drugs, since the hospital was designated a cancer centre.”
Ms Healy Eames said that on top of this, the hospital was struggling to cope without 30 promised cancer posts which have yet to be filled, putting staff under immense pressure in providing for the medical needs of their patients, leading to longer waiting lists and the cancellation of important theatre appointments.
She said the situation at UHG had reached such a grave stage that the hospital had been forced to cut back on vital services in order to try to address the crippling deficit.
These cutbacks include a €3 million cut to aggressive cancer treatment for end-of-life patients, a €1 million cut to orthopaedics procedures, a 50 per cent cut to gynaecological services and a €1 million cut to the provision of prosthetics, said Ms Healy Eames.
A spokeswoman for the HSE West said UHG continued to face significant financial challenges in 2010.
She said the moratorium on the recruitment of particular staff grades would continue to present challenges to their overall capacity to sustain their health services and UHG, like every hospital, had to live within budget.
The spokeswoman said they had planned a range of measures to enable these hospitals to manage services within their budget for this year. However, it would also be necessary to continue with bed closures introduced last year and the consequent staff reductions, she said.
“It is important to stress that while we may have to curtail some elective surgery, we will strive to ensure that vital front line and emergency services will be protected.
“Cancer services at UHG will be protected in line with national policy and are not under threat due to budget pressures,” according to the HSE spokeswoman.
