THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) West has denied that “seasonal” theatre closures during Galway Race Week will have any impact on cancer surgeries.
Two of University College Hospital Galway’s (UCHG) theatres have been closed on a “rotational” basis for July and August, but HSE West says that this is to facilitate “staff leave”.
Five theatres will remain open this week, it says, and the emergency and cardiothoracic theatres and one of the orthopaedic theatres “are not part of the rotation and remain open throughout the summer months”.
UCHG, part of Galway University Hospitals (GUH), is due to start accepting new symptomatic breast cancer referrals from Sligo from August 6th as part of the national cancer control programme (NCCP), but there have been claims the hospital is unable to cope with existing services.
In a leaked memo last month, UCHG manager Bridget Howley warned that cutbacks would have “a devastating impact on our ability to deliver cancer services” in accordance with the national cancer strategy.
Last week, Galway-based film-maker and activist Margaretta D’Arcy said she had been told by the hospital that it could not facilitate a bed during race week, or the week after, due to these “cutbacks”. She has been waiting since the end of May for an operation to remove cancerous tumours. “If I were a racehorse and broke a leg at Ballybrit, at least they would shoot me humanely and speedily,” she wrote in a letter to this newspaper.
Also last week, Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins called on Minister for Health Mary Harney to address the “fundamental inhumanity” of an overcrowded public hospital service in Galway.
She was commenting on the experience of her husband, Christy, who is undergoing chemotherapy. When he became ill last week, he had to wait 17 hours for a bed in UCHG as there were no dedicated or available oncology beds.
HSE West said that “although for reasons of patient privacy and confidentiality, we do not comment on a patient’s medical details, we would stress that cancer patients requiring surgery are prioritised at all times . . . This arrangement has not been breached to date and all patients requiring cancer surgery in recent months have been prioritised.
“Every year the hospital, similar to other hospitals throughout the country, scales back elective procedures over a number of weeks in the summer . . . This does not impact on emergency or urgent admissions or key specialities, for example cancer specialties.
“This planned reduction in service allows essential maintenance works to be carried out while the hospital is less busy, and also means that we can manage the service during what is a peak holiday time,” it said.
Hundreds of women plan to tie their bras to the railings outside Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s office tomorrow in protest against the transfer of vital cancer services from Sligo to Galway.
The women, from Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim, will travel to Dublin in a fleet of buses to start their protest at Áras an Uachtaráin, where they will hand in a letter addressed to the President. Another letter will be delivered to Ms Harney before the demonstration moves to Mr Cowen’s office.
One of the main organisers, Susan O’Keeffe, who contested the recent European Parliament elections for Labour, said that the transfer of services from Sligo “makes no financial sense, and doctors and consultants say it makes no medical sense either”.
A book of protest against the transfer was opened at the weekend in Sligo Town Hall.