Betty Holmes of DACC.
Donegal Action for Cancer Care has welcomed an update on their outstanding questions regarding Prostate & Urology Services for cancer patients.
Spokesperson Betty Holmes has confirmed the DACC they will now meet with Saolta on the issues.
“It has taken a long time & a lot of work to get answers to our questions but we welcome that the attached letter shows that work is ongoing.
“For us in DACC we will continue to keep an very close eye on all the cancer services & continue to keep them to the fore as we always do” said Betty Holmes.
DACC are meeting Mr Maurice Power & Dr Pat Nash Saolta today at Letterkenny Hospital at 12 noon.
“With the announcement of the proposed changes to how our health services will be delivered we DACC will continue to work hard in our volunatry & unpaid roles to keep cancer services for Donegal patients to the fore,” added Ms Holmes.
The following is a letter from Saolta to DACC regarding the services which it says is improving.
Dear Betty,
Apologies for the delay getting back to you with details about the Urology / Prostate service at Letter in Letterkenny.
The service is currently provided by a Locum Surgeon doing both day case and inpatient surgery (2 days of surgery per month with 2 days of cystoscopy per month) with Mr. Eamonn Rogers (from Galway) providing an outpatient service in Letterkenny University Hospital (2 full days of clinics per month).
You were looking for some information with regards to the Urology service. I have looked through the data and since Mr. Rogers has started a clinic there has been significant improvements. In addition, the inpatient service has improved significantly with Mr. Moran. All urgent cases are now being seen in a timely fashion. All referral letters are being triaged in a timely fashion and there is no outstanding letters awaiting triage.There are currently no patients with visible haematuria waiting cystoscopy compared to 15 patients who were waiting in October 2015. As of April 11th, there are no bladder cancers waiting review. In October 2015 there were 56 such cases. There are 352 with prostate cancer who are awaiting review. These are now being accommodated in the available clinics and I would hope that this will improve in the coming months.
I can ensure you that we are working to ensure the provision of a safe sustainable service for Urology patients in Donegal. This has to be as part of a Group wide “hub and spoke” model with Galway as the hub for cancer care for major cancer surgery but with the majority of care delivered locally in Letterkenny.. I hope that this is finalised in the near future as part of the group wide clinical strategy.
In addition, I am delighted to confirm that we have approval to proceed with an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Urology in Letterkenny, which is being supported by the NCCP. This is a major improvement for Letterkenny and a clear commitment from both Saolta and the NCCP to ensuring the sustainability of the service for Letterkenny.
I am happy to discuss further with you.
Best wishes,
____________________________
Dr. Pat Nash,
Chief Clinical Director,
Saolta University Health Care Group.
