LETTERKENNY General
Hospital has one of the longest waiting lists in the
country for a procedure to detect bowel cancer in
patients.
A record number of people are waiting over three
months for a colonoscopy including at Letterkenny,
new figures from the Irish Cancer Society reveal.
The hospitals with the longest lists are Letterkenny
(149), Beaumont Hospital, Dublin (662 patients), St
Luke's in Kilkenny (323), Tallaght Hospital, Dublin
(174) and Galway University Hospital (152).
The Irish Cancer Society (ICS) said 2,418 people
were waiting for the check nationally last month.
There are 71 people waiting over a year for the test
which also screens for other bowel conditions.
ICS spokesperson Kathleen O' Meara said there was no
reason why people should be waiting more than three
months for a colonoscopy.
She said the delays had to be tackled in advance of
the planned start of a national bowel-cancer
screening programme. The programme is due to start,
on a phased basis, next year. The society is to meet
with the National Cancer Screening Service to
discuss the colonoscopy waiting times.
Meanwhile, the husband of Susie Long, who died while
waiting for bowel cancer treatment said: "I am
horrified at the doubling of the numbers waiting for
colonoscopies over the last year. 2,418 people
waiting more than three months for this test
inevitably means that a certain number of them will
be diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer and face a
death sentence, just as my wife Susie did when she
was finally diagnosed after a seven-month wait.
"These are the ordinary people who are being
sacrificed on the altar of austerity, who are paying
with their lives for an under-funded health service
whilst billions of euro are still being poured into
Anglo-Irish bank," said Conor McLiam. |
