New Northern Ireland health minister announces funding for £56m radiotherapy centre
Northern Ireland’s new health minister, Edwin Poots, has announced a £56m funding package to enable work to start on a new radiotherapy centre at Altnagelvin in Londonderry.
The establishment of this new facility will mean 90% of patients in Northern Ireland will be within one hour of a radiotherapy service. This will greatly ease the burden of travel on ill and frail patients
Announcing the news this week, he said: "Making a decision on the proposed radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin was my first priority. It was vital that I took the time to look at all the evidence properly to reach the right decision for the right reasons. I have now thoroughly reviewed all the relevant information and have decided to make the necessary funding, both current and capital, available. This amounts to £56m being made available to build the unit and an estimated additional £9m for running costs."
Before making his decision, Poots visited the hospital to speak to staff and patients. He said: "This gave me a clearer understanding of the very real human impact of this decision. We must never be complacent about cancer. We must do all we can to respond to the challenge of this illness, and it is a challenge, both in terms of the resources required to combat it and in terms of the sheer number of people affected.
We must never be complacent about cancer. We must do all we can to respond to the challenge of this illness, and it is a challenge, both in terms of the resources required to combat it and in terms of the sheer number of people affected
"Radiotherapy is one of the most-effective means of beating cancer. While the cancer centre at Belfast City Hospital was designed to provide sufficient capacity for Northern Ireland up until 2015, we need to act now to ensure the Altnagelvin unit proceeds as planned. The establishment of this new facility will mean 90% of patients in Northern Ireland will be within one hour of a radiotherapy service. This will greatly ease the burden of travel on ill and frail patients."
Construction of the new centre is expected to be completed by 2015 and the facility will be opened in early 2016.
