Sligo breast cancer patients are to be allocated three beds in the designated cancer centre at University Hospital Galway, while Mayo patients will only avail of two beds.
These figures were revealed at a meeting of the HSE regional health forum in Merlin Park on Tuesday in answer to a question tabled by Councillor Austin Francis O’Malley.
Cllr O’Malley expressed his bitter disappointment at the poor allocation to Mayo patients. He said it was his belief that six beds would be allocated to Mayo in a separate unit but now it has emerged there are only going to be two.
He complimented the people of Sligo for the ‘brilliant’ fight they put up against the removal of services from Sligo General Hospital and suggested that the number of Mayo beds should be on a par with Sligo’s three.
However an HSE manager said the number of beds allocated to Mayo were the number of beds needed. He said some Mayo patients were already attending the Galway hospital and there was only a need for two additional beds to serve the county.
Cllr O’Malley asked that this be increased to three to put Mayo on a par with Sligo.
