02-05-2025
Donegal cancer campaigners hold 'positive' meeting with minister
Campaigners for improved cancer care services in Co Donegal have said they held "a positive meeting" with Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill in Letterkenny.
Three protests calling for improved cancer care services were held at Letterkenny University Hospital in the last six weeks.
Cancer survivor Roseena Doherty Toner, who was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in 2021, presented Minister MacNeill with 1,200 signatures she collected at two of the three protests in support of their campaign.
The mother-of-five from Clonmany in Inishowen said that while hospital staff are "absolutely amazing", she believes LUH does not have the facilities needed to accommodate the area.
"It was a positive meeting [with the minister]. We are going to have to wait and see now and hope for the best".
"We in the northwest are 250 kilometres from University Hospital Galway. It is too far for a cancer patient to have to travel regarding any cancer treatment".
Mrs Doherty Toner said a lot of services are available at LUH. However when the resources available cannot cope with demand, patients are sent to Galway.
"The day I was diagnosed and sent to Galway for my treatment was the worst journey of my entire life.
"Subsequent journeys were the same. You're not feeling well, you're sick, you're stopping at the side of the road to have to be sick. It's horrendous," she said.
Mrs Doherty Toner said families that need to stay overnight must fork out several hundred euro for accommodation.
"People in Donegal don't have that kind of money. We are not going to stop campaigning. We have fantastic staff and doctors in Letterkenny, but they're working in facilities that are not fit for purpose. We need upgraded facilities".
Minister Carroll MacNeill thanked the campaigners for sharing their personal stories and said she understood the depth of feeling around the matter.
"I really recognise that Donegal has experienced that at a deeper level to many other counties for lots of different reasons. It is important to acknowledge that".
The Minister said the HSE and LUH management have plans to build on cancer and haematology services.
Figures provided at a recent Regional Health Forum West meeting in February showed three in ten cancer patients start treatment within the target timelines at LUH.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said the hospital has improved services so that people are getting chemotherapy treatment at an earlier stage.
