Harney rejects cancer plan criticism

Minister for Health Mary Harney has rejected claims that she has allowed the timetable for her cancer treatment plan to slip substantially behind schedule.

Details from a leaked Health Service Executive report revealed that the €400 million plan - which promises a new national network of radiotherapy services - is beset by delays and complexities over cost.

Ms Harney said today that considerable progress was being made in implementing the plan but admitted the HSE was examining the "best options to speed up its delivery".

The confidential HSE report says the proposed timeframe for opening 36 cancer treatment centres by 2011 - as outlined by Ms Harney at announcement of the plan in 2005 - is "not achievable".

The most likely end date is 2013 or 2014, it says, and the question of cost is described as a "lingering complexity".

The report - obtained by radio station Newstalk 106 - also claims that the HSE was not consulted before the Minister announced the plan.

Ms Harney claims the report is an internal analysis from the HSE that has been "surpassed" and that neither she nor the HSE management had subsequently accepted that the only option for full delivery was 2013 or 2014.

But Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has accused Ms Harney of playing politics with people's lives.

He said the Government's national cancer treatment strategy was "a completely hollow promise that was not properly planned, costed or thought out". He described the revelation as the cruellest of all this Government's broken promises over the past 10 years in power.

Labour spokeswoman on health Liz McManus said the report proved the Government's cancer treatment plan was a shambles.

Ms McManus said: "The radiotherapy plan was designed to alleviate the distress of those who are extremely sick and on that understanding it was roundly welcomed when it was launched.

"Tragically, it has fallen victim to Mary Harney's unfortunate habit of announcing grandiose plans for the health service without adequate consultation, advance planning, or any idea of what the final costs will be," she said.

But Ms Harney rejected these claims, insisting there were no grounds for "political scaremongering" among cancer patients based on one earlier HSE document.

She said she had met the chairman and chief executive officer of the HSE to discuss the timelines for the delivery of the National Plan for Radiation Oncology.

The Minister said it was agreed that the HSE should look at options to speed up the pace of the delivery. "The HSE is currently examining the options and will make recommendations to me shortly."

In a statement today, the HSE confirmed the report was an historical one that was prepared in July 2006. "It formed only one part of the ongoing dialogue and monitoring in relation to the national plan and has now been superseded by recent developments," it said.

The HSE said that since the document was written, "sanction has been received for the procurement of interim facilities at both St James's and Beaumont Hospitals".

Sinn Féin Dáil leader and health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the report raises a major doubt over the entire cancer strategy of the Government.

He called on Ms Harney to put forward a revised plan, properly resourced, that will ensure delivery of these services on time and throughout the regions.

Green Party health spokesman John Gormley TD said the Minister's denials "ring very hollow".

"When the strategy was published, the Irish Cancer Society expressed its reservations and it's plain that many in the HSE now know that it amounted to a lot of political spin. Not only can it not be delivered on time but the budget is totally unrealistic. Cancer rates are due to increase by a staggering 90 per cent in the next 15 years."

"This fact alone means that the budget for the strategy will have to be increased significantly if it is to address the serious deficits in the service. It's time for Mary Harney to come clean on this issue."