€54m radiation oncology project given go-ahead

A €54 million project to develop radiation oncology facilities in two Dublin hospitals was given the go-ahead by the Minister for Health yesterday.

At the launch of the symptomatic breast disease service at Beaumont hospital, Mary Harney said she had given approval to the Health Service Executive to proceed with the new facilities for radiation oncology at Beaumont Hospital and St James's Hospital as part of the national radiation oncology plan.

The new facilities will contain two linear accelerators, used in radiation oncology for treating cancer.

Ms Harney said she wanted the service to be in place in early 2009. "It is an important element of the national radiation oncology plan, which will deliver integrated radiation oncology care for patients all over the country," she said.

"The aim is to provide the most technically advanced and efficient radiation oncology service nationally encompassing all of the radiation oncology treatment modalities and complementing existing medical and surgical oncology services."

In relation to the symptomatic breast disease service at Beaumont, Ms Harney praised the partnership between Beaumont and St James's hospitals and said it was essential that both hospitals continued to work together for the provision of quality breast cancer care.

As part of the new service, specialists at both hospitals take part in a weekly video conference to discuss cases and share expertise.

The service, developed over the last 18 months, involved the recruitment of additional specialists to the oncology team and the appointment of seven new consultants. Two new weekly breast cancer outpatient clinics have also been developed and the waiting time to be seen by a specialist has dropped from an average of 67 days in 2005 to five days this year.

The service also includes a new programme to deal with lymph node biopsy, carried out on breast cancer patients to detect the possible spread of the illness.