Radiotherapy network to cost €480m

Investment: The Government's planned investment programme to develop a nationwide network of radiotherapy facilities will cost €480 million, according to new Department of Health figures.

An internal report prepared for the appearance of Department of Health Secretary General Michael Scanlan before the Dáil Public Accounts Committee recently put the ongoing revenue cost of running the radiation oncology network at around €72 million a year.

Last July Minister for Health Mary Harney announced Government approval for a nationwide radiation oncology network to be put in place in 2008-2011.

The network will be developed largely using public/private partnership arrangements.

The plan will consist of four large radiotherapy centres in Dublin, Cork and Galway as well as two integrated satellite facilities at Limerick Regional Hospital and Waterford Regional Hospital.

The project will see the closure of the existing radiotherapy centre at St Luke's Hospital in Dublin and the transfer of services to a new site on the campus of St James's Hospital. A large radiotherapy facility for north Dublin will also be built on the campus of Beaumont Hospital.

The Department of Health report said the development of two satellite radiotherapy units at Limerick and Waterford would be "conditional on their conformity to certain quality assurance arrangements".

The State has already invested €15 million in the radiotherapy unit at University College Hospital Galway, which opened a year ago. There was also investment last year in two new linear accelerators at Cork University Hospital.

The Department of Health report says the overall investment in radiotherapy capacity will be equivalent to the provision of 23 additional linear accelerators.

"The capital investment involved will be approximately €480 million, with most of it funded through PPP [ over the period to 2011]. Indicative revenue costs [ which will not arise until 2008] are of the order of €72 million."

The Department of Health report also states that the Government will consider a joint venture in the medium term to allow for the provision of oncology services for patients in the northwest from one satellite centre in the region. This would be linked to Belfast City Hospital, the main cancer centre in Northern Ireland. Already under an agreement reached between the Government and the Northern Ireland authorities, patients from the northwest can undergo radiation treatment at Belfast City Hospital rather than travelling to Dublin or Galway.