Áine Ryan
UNIVERSITY College Hospital Galway (UCHG) was dubbed a ‘Chamber of Horrors’ and not a ‘centre of excellence’ by a Fine Gael councillor, who was defending his Mayo colleague, Cll Eddie Staunton, after a row broke out at last week’s West Regional Health Forum meeting.
Galway city councillor, Padraig Conneely, was responding to the fact that Professor Tom Keane – the man charged with revolutionising the country’s cancer care services – had dismissed a question by Cllr Staunton about the retention of a full-time oncologist in Mayo General Hospital (MGH).
Earlier, Professor Keane argued that it was ‘not possible to have a full-time oncologist in every small town in Ireland’ and, moreover, that ‘there were excellent chemotherapy nurses in place’.
Cllr Staunton had observed that since Mayo was the third largest county in the country, and that Castlebar was not a small town, a full-time oncologist should be retained at the hospital.
Professor Keane replied: “I don’t think you have listened to what I’ve said, so I won’t bother trying to answer you.”
“I notice a bit of arrogance coming through in your response to my colleague Eddie Staunton,” quipped Cllr Conneely. “I know you have been handed a poisoned chalice by a Government that can’t handle health care.”
“I would remind you that this very forum passed a vote of no confidence in that Government’s Health Minister,” Cllr Conneely also said.
He was referring to his motion, which was passed 15-11 at a forum meeting held in January last.
Meanwhile, Cllr Austin Francis O’Malley suggested that ‘cattle and horses’ were treated better than some patients in need of assistance.
“What happens to a cancer patient who has a reaction to chemotherapy in Castlebar and has to receive attention in Galway?” he asked.
He was referring to a constituent who suffered such a reaction on Tuesday last (May 27) and had to wait for a protracted time at MGH for an ambulance to travel from Roscommon to be brought to UCHG.
Also highlighting the issue of travel time, Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Tim Quinn said that some of his constituents will have ‘a 440km round trip from Blacksod to Galway’.
“If you were to drive that journey you wouldn’t be up to much,” he said, asking Prof Keane was he happy that the centres of excellence would be up-and-running at the end of his (two-year) term.
“The cancer centre is already up-and-running in Galway. It will need enhancement and expansion,” replied Prof Keane. He also argued that long journeys were not unique to Ireland, and they represented a trade-off between convenience and quality of service.
Addressing Prof Keane, Cllr Patsy O’Brien said: “I’m making a passionate plea for you to come down to Mayo and re-evaluate the situation. Why can’t you leave these beds in Mayo [the two extra beds being allocated to UCHG for Mayo patients]; that’s what the people want and that’s what they should be given.”
What was said
regional health forum meeting
“Confidence in the cancer system in Ireland has been shaken; I want to restore that confidence. People are changing already and choosing to go to centres of excellence, even when the local services are still there.”
Prof Tom Keane, Interim Director of the National Cancer Care Programme
“How can Professor Keane instil confidence in the consultants of this country when they [recently] compared the service to Stalinist Russia? UCHG is a Chamber of Horrors and not a centre of excellence.
There were 1,300 patients waiting for beds in the last four months. You are turning a health care system into a business plan.”
Cllr Padraig Conneely, Galway City Council
“UCHG is already €4 million over budget. The people of the north west have no confidence in this strategy and the campaign will not be diverted or the closure of the Sligo services will not be accepted.”
Cllr Declan Bree, of Sligo Borough Council
