Sinn Féin Cllr Pearse Doherty supports rally organised by DACC
Published: 9 May, 2006
Speaking in advance of the rally Cllr Doherty has said that an All Ireland and equality based approach is the only way to address the need for enhanced cancer care services in Donegal.
Cllr Doherty said:
"This Sunday is an ideal opportunity to seek widening support for enhanced cancer care services in Donegal and the North West region. Sinn Féin in Donegal and Derry have been calling for a dedicated regional cancer care service in the North West and publicly support the demands of Donegal Action for Cancer Care (DACC). It is now official Sinn Féin policy at local and national level.
"Sinn Féin is an All Ireland party and can exert pressure on both the British and Irish Governments on the basis of our electoral mandates to deliver enhanced cancer care services to the North West Region. The only way to deliver enhanced cancer care services in Donegal is through an All Ireland and equality based approach. Sinn Féin calls for the fast tracking of the Breast Cancer screening service, Breast Check in Donegal. The proposal to deliver it in 2007- 2008 is simply not soon enough. This is about equality of access to vital services.
"Alongside this we are calling on the HSE in conjunction with the NHO to once and for all tie down the arrangement for joint provision of symptomatic breast services in the region between Letterkenny and Altnagelvin Hospitals. Central to this strategy will be the appointment of a permanent breast surgeon in Letterkenny. We understand why the Medical Board of Letterkenny Hospital have announced that in the absence of an agreed permanent solution to the issue of symptomatic breast services, no support services will be provided referred with symptomatic breast disease from 1st June and all breast clinics including review services would cease from 1st September. The team at Letterkenny have put up with put with fudge from the HSE for four years on this subject and their patience has been exhausted.oHopsHospi
"The joint proposal from Ministers Mary Harney and Shaun Woodward, last year that Donegal cancer patients now travel to Belfast rather than to Dublin completely missed the point. It once again exposed the complete lack of understanding inherent in the thinking of the powers that be in Dublin and Belfast of how to address a myriad of difficulties in the North West cross border region. They got the All Ireland approach right and that is welcome but they tried to relocate public services that should be based in the North West region as of right over to Belfast.
"Sinn Féin is very proud that former six county Minister for Health, Bairbre de Brún was able to secure the Cancer Centre as a centre of excellence. This had been a major demand of service users and their organisations.
"However, the Belfast Cancer Centre was never conceived as a stand alone either in terms of geographic location or type of care - from prevention to treatment to after-care or advice to service users and their families. The network is made up of one regional cancer centre based at Belfast City Hospital and one cancer unit in each of the six county's four regional health boards, at Antrim, Craigavon and Altnagelvin. These act as part of a network along with other sites that can deliver a part of the care.
"Letterkenny General Hospital will slot in to this strategy nicely but only on the basis of equality of service and access for the patients that it serves in Donegal. The Belfast Cancer Centre is already part of an all Ireland Cancer Consortium, which has working groups on cancer registries, clinical trials, information technology, nursing, prevention, and scholar exchange.
"Sinn Féin advocates planning for healthcare on an all-Ireland basis, and not having separate planning for facilities north and south. This is clearly the way ahead. The decision to allocate additional capacity in Belfast to serve cancer patients from the Donegal and North West region in its current context is no more than a 'cosmetic' exercise that will make no material difference to patients who presently have to travel to Dublin. After all what is the difference for people in remote areas of Donegal having to make a four-hour journey to Dublin and making a similar one to Belfast? What is required is a Regional Cancer Unit or satellite radiotherapy unit to serve the needs of patients in the North West counties.
"This decision should not be accepted as an alternative to providing a real health service for the people of the North West and in this instance those cancer patients from Donegal who continue to suffer despite this news. Rather than indulging in cosmetic PR exercises both governments would serve the people better by providing real services. A regional oncology facility for the Greater North West is what is required and the people of this region deserve nothing less. The prevalence of all cancers in the North West demands that the need must be met.
"People in Donegal continue to be treated as second class to patients. To ask someone to travel to Belfast when there are two hospitals in Altnagelvin and Letterkenny en route that could house an Oncology Unit is totally unacceptable. While I appreciate that the Belfast option does offer some type of alternative to treat rare forms of the disease, this should not deflect from the huge demand to establish a regional cancer unit in this region.
"We are urging the two Governments to address the real issue of establishing a truly regional service for cancer patients throughout the North West. This will have to include the issue of integrated planning of services for patients in this area. It is not acceptable that an imposed frontier exacerbates this group or any other section of society."
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