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| Cancer Services to close |
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SAVE ST LUKE'S CANCER HOSPITAL, RATHGAR
The Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010 includes a section on closing St Luke's Cancer Hospital, Rathgar and moving services to the 'centre of excellence' at St James' Hospital.
The Bill had its second stage in the Dail on June 3rd and was adjourned. It moves to committee stage, report and final stages, and then to the Seanad.
The Minister wants the Bill passed by the time the Dail breaks for the summer.
Some background -
The Hollywood Report proposed 8 cancer centres of excellence though leading oncologist Professor John Armstrong, a member of the Hollywood committee disagreed with the endorsement of centres of excellence and felt that the committee did not look at models like the hub and spoke model which have worked well in other countries.
A panel of experts composing of 3 people employed by the Department of Health and three outside 'experts' then advised the Minister on which hospitals should be the 'centres of excellence.' They examined submissions from interested hospitals and made a brief visit to each.
St Luke's submission was deemed by the panel to be outside the requested brief and was marked down, receiving poor marks even under the category 'existing service.'
This is hard to understand - unless of course there was an agenda to sell off the valuable 18 acre site to developer friends.
Luke's campaigners had assumed the closing of St Luke's had been dropped following the opposition. It is devious to slip it through at the end of a Dail session with an innocuously titled bill.
In recent years millions have been spent on the latest equipment for St Luke's - paid for by the taxpayer and fundraising by the Friends of St Lukes. It makes no sense to close it on financial grounds alone.
When the decision to close St Luke's was taken the National Cancer registry projected 28,000 new cases by 2020. In 2008 projected cases had been revised to 42,000 so on patient numbers alone the decision should be revisited.
It is vital that supporters of St Luke's contact their FF and Green TDs NOW to ask that this section be dropped from the Bill at committee stage. A personal meeting at the constituency clinic would be better than email, but the more pressure the better.
Contacts:Joe Guilfoyle :087-7937201
/Enid O'Dowd :087-2319056
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| Joe/Enid |
16/06/2010
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