Altnagelvin Statement by Health Minister Edwin Poots to NI Assembly - 23 May 2011
Thank you Mr Speaker. I wish to make a statement concerning the proposed establishment of a radiotherapy centre based at the Altnagelvin hospital site in Londonderry.
The Assembly will be aware that it was announced just prior to the dissolving of the last Assembly that funding was not available to allow for the proposed radiotherapy centre at Altnagelvin to proceed as scheduled.
Upon my appointment as Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety one of the first things I did was to review all aspects of the proposal. On the 17 May 2011, my second day in office, I visited the Altnagelvin hospital site and met with officials and staff of the Western Health and Social Care Trust and also patients, to gain a clearer understanding of this issue.
On Thursday 19th I visited the Belfast City Hospital Cancer Centre to identify how the Northern Ireland wide needs for cancer are being met Mr Speaker, eight and a half thousand new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in Northern Ireland. With an ageing population this number is likely to increase. By the age of 75 one in 3 of us will have cancer.
Cancer is not something we can be complacent about. Everyone in this chamber will know someone, either a family member, a friend or indeed themselves, who has been affected by cancer. For some people, cancer is a life threatening condition but due to medical advancements, good care and support, survival rates have improved. At present there are approximately 60,000 living with cancer.
But we must do more to respond to the challenge of this condition. And it is a challenge both in terms of the resources required to treat and combat it and also in terms of the sheer number of people affected.
Whilst it is important to take every step we can to encourage behaviours that reduce the risk of cancer we need to ensure that we have the full range of effective treatments to tackle cancer. Radiotherapy is one of the most effective means of beating cancer.
Whilst the Cancer Centre at Belfast City Hospital was designed to provide sufficient radiotherapy capacity for Northern Ireland up to 2015, measures are in place to ensure that sufficient capacity is available at the Centre up until mid-2016 when the Altnagelvin unit was scheduled to open. However we need to act now to ensure that the Altnagelvin unit proceeds as planned.
Following my consideration of the issues, I have decided that delivery of this project is a high priority and I have confirmed that I will make the necessary funding - both current and capital - available. To delay or fail would miss a valuable opportunity to improve service provision for future cancer patients. This proposal will deliver important benefits, not just for people living in the North West, but also for Northern Ireland as a whole, as the Regional Cancer Centre in Belfast City Hospital is operating close to its maximum capacity. It also has the support of the Health and Social Care Board in its role as the commissioner of services.
DFP has been informed of this and they have now approved the outline business case, known as OBC1. This means that the Western Trust can commence the first phase of the project immediately – this involves design and enabling works.
They will also move to OBC2 which is the next stage in the process during which the detail of the project will be finalised.
I anticipate completion of construction of the facility in 2015 with opening in mid 2016.
When visiting Altnagelvin I met healthcare professionals and senior management who made the case for the new unit. However the most powerful advocates were not the consultants or nurses, but two patients (Pearse and Edna ) who were receiving radiotherapy treatment in the Belfast City Hospital, by far, made the most powerful case for change. One lady (Edna) explained how on a cold December day it took 7 hours to travel to and from Belfast for ten minutes treatment. Clearly such journeys are not conducive to the recovery process. Of the 14 patients in the ward only 2 were well enough to speak to me. It brought it home to me that those of us who enjoy good health should be thankful and show compassion to those who are less fortunate than ourselves.The establishment of this new facility in the Northwest will mean that 90% of patients in NI will be within 1 hour’s travelling time of a radiotherapy service. This will greatly ease the burden of travel on already ill and often frail patients. The location of the new centre in the Northwest also provides the opportunity for genuine, sustainable and meaningful cross- border co-operation. It has the potential to deliver real mutual benefits to both jurisdictions.
My primary responsibility is and always will be to ensure high quality, sustainable health services for the people of NI. The authorities in the Republic of Ireland have given firm assurances that they will fully fund their share of the costs so that there can be no question of detriment to the patients of Northern Ireland in terms of resources or access to services.
The proposed unit at Altnagelvin provides a significant opportunity to enhance the radiotherapy capacity within Northern Ireland and to make these services more accessible to cancer sufferers. I intend moving forwards with this project with all urgency it so clearly warrants.
I commend this statement to this Assembly.
