Aerial view of Waterford Regional Hospital
Following years of campaigning by local groups, a planning application has been lodged with Waterford City Council for the construction of a radiotherapy unit to treat public cancer patients on the grounds of Waterford Regional Hospital.
Part of the Government’s new National Network for Radiation Oncology Services, the Waterford unit will act as a satellite centre of Cork University Hospital and will be built under the Public Private Partnership programme. When the plan was initially announced some years ago, a target date of 2011 was set for the provision of public radiation therapy at WRH. However a HSE spokesperson this week told The Munster Express that the service would be in place by 2014.
The planning application, lodged by the HSE last week, provides for a three-storey building to be constructed to the east of the main hospital structure. The building will house a 2 linear accelerator facility. It will be accessed off the existing realigned perimeter road within the grounds of the hospital and will be facilitated by its own carpark. A decision on the application is due from the Planning Department of the local authority on 29th September and building work is scheduled to start on site next year.
In the interim, the HSE has a Service Level Agreement in place for the provision of radiotherapy treatment for public patients from the South East counties at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre Cancer Centre at Whitfield Clinic, Waterford.
