The University of Galway Cancer Network, in partnership in the HSE West and North West has been accredited by the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI ), making it the 20th such network to achieve cancer centre accreditation across Europe.
This comes following several years of reviews and engagement with the European team including a peer review which took place last May, which saw a panel of experts visit a number of hospitals across the region to assess all elements of the cancer programme.
The OECI Accreditation and Designation programme is considered internationally as the gold standard for cancer care. It focuses on enabling a complete quality system for cancer diagnosis, care, education and research.
Professor Michael Kerin, Director of the HSE West and North West – University of Galway Cancer Network welcomed the announcement adding: “This acknowledgement is a testament to the hard work of our incredible staff. This took an enormous amount of work across our hospitals and a huge amount of support from the voluntary organisations working in our region.
“We were evaluated on 345 standards and we will now focus on the 33 point quality improvement plan which will deliver a fit for purpose cancer centre for the West and North West region. This was a commitment of the National Development Plan and we now need to ensure we have the resources, national support and infrastructure to deliver a fully accredited cancer network. The fact that we have been given cancer centre status is hugely valuable and our ability to recruit, retain and develop our staff and deliver really good care has been enhanced by this process,” he added.
Tony Canavan, Regional Executive Officer, HSE West and North West said: "I want to extend my congratulations and thanks to everyone involved in getting us to this point. This has been a lengthy process but what we have seen over the course of the journey is a level of self-examination of our own services that shines a light on good practice and highlights areas where we need further work.
“This is a major programme across Europe and we are the 20th cancer centre to be accredited in this programme. This acknowledges our ongoing commitment to improving outcomes and delivering better care to our population in a research and education driven environment,” he added.
Prof Martin O’Donnell, Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences University of Galway added: “Our collaborative ambition is to create a centre of excellence delivering the highest international standards in cancer treatment, research and education and the OECI accreditation process is critical to achieving this goal. Congratulations to Prof Kerin and HSE West and North West for their dedication to developing patient-centred cancer care.”
The HSE West and North West cancer programme provides a wide range of cancer services to a population of 830,000 people across the region. Complex care is located at University Hospital Galway with satellite centres delivering care closer to home in Letterkenny University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital, Mayo University Hospital and Portiuncula University Hospital.
