Donegal cancer surgeon to resign over lack of resources

A top cancer surgeon is to leave his post next month, claiming he no longer has the resources to take care of his patients.

Kevin Moran, a distinguished urologist and general surgeon at Letterkenny General Hospital, tendered his resignation to hospital authorities and expressed his growing fear for the future of Urology services at the hospital.

Mr Moran has been 24 years in the post, but informed bosses of his decision to resign in December. “I have taken the decision to resign as I don’t have the resources to take care of my patients any more,” Mr Moran said.

“I don’t have access to beds, I don’t have adequate access to operating theatres and I can’t recruit and retain the junior staff and support staff that I need.

“The main issue is recruitment and retention. For example, to replace me takes a general surgeon and a urologist , two people, two disciplines, and while they’re able to get a locum general surgeon I believe they will have a major difficulty recruiting a Urologist.

“There’s also a training issue. We had longer and more intense training. There were no quality of life issues, no weekends off. I’m not saying that that was right but the bottom line is that you ended up with surgeons who had greater experience and skill mix.

“There are major issues here to be addressed and I don’t have the answers. If there had been a been working environment whereby I would have been able to look after my patients and derived professional satisfaction then I would have happily seen out my career in Letterkenny,” he said.

During his time in Donegal he established the urology service at the hospital as well as the first breast clinic outside St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.

Mr Moran also served as regional cancer director from 1996 to 2001 while he was the first person from Letterkenny appointed to the board of Comhairle na nOspidéal (2001-05).

For the past five years he has been surgeon for the Donegal senior football team, the 2012 All-Ireland winners, after being recruited by Jim McGuinness.

He said: “If they transferred the ethos from the Donegal dressing room into the HSE and, more specifically Letterkenny General Hospital, then we would have a very different situation. Within the Donegal camp there are no egos, no vested interests and everyone is working together as a team for the good of the local community.

“With the players there’s one driving ambition – to achieve everything they can for themselves, their team mates, families and their county. Frankly, it is amazing to be involved with Donegal these past five years. The difference between what can be achieved and what is being achieved is absolutely striking.”

The Roscommon native arrived in Letterkenny from a post in Beaumont where he worked alongside former Dublin footballer David Hickey, Urologist and Transplant Surgeon.

Now, Moran is worried about his workload when patients will be handed over to a colleague when he leaves his post next month. He explained: “I’ve 425 men with prostate cancers and 160 men and women with bladder cancers that need to be followed up.”

Extensive discussion has taken place with Mr Eamonn Rogers (Lead Urologist for Saolta, the new health care group that manages LGH) who is making every effort to make sure that these patients are not adversely affected by the imminent interruption of the service.

“These patients all need surveillance – bladder examinations and scans as well as clinical assessments by Urologists or someone with high levels of training under the direction of Urologist.”

The ever-growing waiting lists are also a very real concern.

He said: “The out-patients list is quite phenomenal. It’s mind boggling in fact. The wait for a routine appointment is two years, two months, for urgent appointment it’s one year and four months while the recall backlog is two years.”