A member of the expert group who compiled the recent report on the future of radiotherapy services in the State has said he fundamentally disagrees with some of the report's recommendations.
Dr Gordon Watson spoke yesterday of the inequity of access to treatment for patients from the south-east, mid-west and north-west as a consequence of the group deciding that radiotherapy services should be located in Dublin, Cork and Galway only.
He said the expert group was dominated by persons from Dublin - which is now to get two new radiotherapy centres - and Cork, where radiotherapy facilities are to be improved.
Dr Watson, a consultant surgical oncologist at Waterford Regional Hospital, said he "tried hard" to get his point across to the others on the expert panel and revealed he wasn't the only consultant on the panel to disagree with the report's recommendations, which have now been adopted as Government policy.
The consultant was speaking at a press conference in Dublin yesterday organised by the national Cancer Care Alliance, which has pledged to continue fighting for radiotherapy services in the south east, mid west and north west.
The Alliance's spokesperson, Ms Jane Bailey, said the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, had relied on a "flawed" study when he said location of radiotherapy services was not as important to patients as previously suggested.