Cancer services:More major deficiencies and variations in treatment of breast cancer have been identified within private hospitals in the Republic, including a lack of adequate assessment of women with symptoms of breast cancer.
Not all private hospitals meet best practice criteria as laid down by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), according to responses to direct queries by The Irish Times.
And two of the State's leading private hospitals, the Blackrock Clinic and Bons Secours private hospital, Tralee, have stopped breast cancer surgery, it has been established.
The Blackrock Clinic, the premier standalone private hospital in Dublin, has ceased carrying out breast cancer surgery since early September. The move was made in the wake of the ongoing controversy over the quality of breast cancer services in the State, which has highlighted the need for women who develop a breast lump to be comprehensively assessed by at least three medical specialists.
Blackrock Clinic chief executive Bryan Harty said the last breast cancer operation at the clinic was carried out on September 6th last. He said the clinic had made the decision because the volume of breast cancer cases at the hospital was insufficient to satisfy the criteria outlined earlier this year by Hiqa. A spokesman for the Bons Secours Hospital in Tralee said it had performed no breast surgery this year and would no longer offer breast cancer surgery to patients.
Mount Carmel Hospital in Dublin does not conduct weekly multidisciplinary meetings to discuss the cases of women who present to the hospital with breast cancer symptoms. And while it has a radiologist who reads in excess of 1,000 mammograms a year, in line with the new standards, it was unable to confirm, in the case of women without symptoms who underwent mammography only at the hospital, if their films were read by two separate radiologists.
The Bons Secours Hospital in Galway offers a standalone mammography service staffed by one part-time radiologist. But the dual reading of these mammograms is dependent on the co-operation of colleagues at University College Hospital, Galway, a spokesman said.
A number of private hospitals say they follow the guidelines fully. These include the Mater Private hospital, St Vincent's Private and the Galway Clinic. The capital's newest private facilities - the Beacon Clinic in Sandyford and the Hermitage Clinic in Lucan - both of which are in the process of setting up cancer services, say they are committed to adhering to best practice in line with the Hiqa report. The Bons Secours Hospital in Cork, which is fully compliant with the guidelines, says it has plans to significantly expand cancer services.