ONE OF the key hospitals in the Government’s plan to develop eight cancer centres of excellence around the country is set to pull out of the scheme because of enforced cutbacks.
Management at University Hospital Galway (UHG) have informed the HSE that they will have no choice but to withdraw from the scheme in the coming weeks if they are compelled to implement further cutbacks of €6 million.
Galway University Hospitals – comprising UHG in the city centre and Merlin Park Hospital on the eastern outskirts – were instructed to make cutbacks of €15 million this year, reducing the budget from €288 million to €273 million.
Cuts of €9 million were carried out and hospital management told the HSE that any further cuts would result in frontline services being seriously affected. However, Galway University Hospitals were instructed some weeks ago to find savings of €6 million between now and the end of the year.
In a leaked document, the general manager of Galway University Hospitals, Bridget Howley, warns of the risks to patients and staff that will arise from the cuts.
She has requested that the HSE bring the matter to the attention of Prof Tom Keane, director of the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP), because “of the devastating impact on our ability to deliver cancer services in accordance with NCCP”.
Ms Howley confirms that the cuts will see another 60 beds being closed at University Hospital Galway and will prevent the hospital from being a designated cancer centre, which is supposed to cater for patients from Donegal to Limerick.