Altnagelvin’s new €50 million oncology unit is due to open within the coming weeks. The cross-border unit will provide treatments to people with cancer from both North and South of the Border.
It is hoped that the establishment of this new unit will make cancer care more locally accessible and reduce waiting times.
Approximately 220 new jobs will be made for nursing staff, radiographers, oncologists and radiologists.
The new facility will “provide a patient centred, holistic service for cancer patients… Radiotherapy treatment, including combination radio/chemotherapy for curative and palliative purposes, for all but the most complex of tumours, will be delivered at Altnagelvin Hospital.”
Over half a million people will be in the catchment area to avail of the new service. Approximately 10% of cancer patients may still have to travel to Belfast, Galway or Dublin for more advanced treatment.
The catchment area for the new facility
Designers aim to make the facility as comfortable as possible and will create a design which “helps allay fears of patients and relatives who are attending for cancer treatments, through the integration of landscapes with the internal design of the building.” It is hoped that the designers’ choice in materials will create a warm and relaxing environment.
Made up of several buildings, the unit is “designed along the continuum of the “garden” that incorporates both the external existing landscape and the internal path of the patient’s journey.”
Noelle Duddy of Co-operating for Cancer Care NorthWest said members have for over 11 years campaigned fearlessly for the retention and development of cancer services in Letterkenny University Hospital and for the provision of radiotherapy services in the NorthWest Region.
And she vowed that these goals will continue despite the surprise withdrawal of Britain from the EU.
She stressed that the Radiotherapy Unit at Altnagelvin is NOT an EU project.
“The NorthWest Radiotherapy Unit at Altnagelvin is funded by both Governments, North and South. This exciting cross border Project enjoys the good will and support of Government, Politicians, Health Services and Communities from both sides of the Border. It is not an EU Project.”
“Whilst CCC(NW) remains optimistic that “Brexit” will not stop patients living in Donegal from accessing radiotherapy treatments in Altnagelvin when it opens its doors, we have written to both Minister of Health, Michelle O’Neill, MLA and Minister of Health, Simon Harris, TD requesting that they, “issue a clear statement as soon as possible, to reassure people living on both sides of the border, in the North West Region of this Island, that ‘Brexit’ will have no impact on cancer patients receiving radiotherapy treatments in the cross border Radiotherapy Unit at Altnagelvin, when it becomes operational in late autumn of this year and that work to complete this project is continuing and unaffected.”
The unit will be managed by the Western Health and Social Care Turst, who will work closely with the Cancer Centre in Belfast, the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, and Letterkenny University Hospital.
It will be funded by the Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland and the Department of Health in the Republic of Ireland. It will be commissioned by the Health and Social Care Board (NI) and the Health Service Executive (ROI).
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