City cancer centre: The shocking truth

The Sentinel has obtained documents that show the proposed new cancer unit in Londonderry was amongst the five highest priorities across Northern Ireland when UUP Health Minister Michael McGimpsey’s announcement on projects to be funded was first drafted on March 14.

In initial drafts of the Minister’s statement produced by officials the satellite radiotherapy centre was regarded as one of five projects that there was “no alternative but to progress despite the enormous constraints on both capital and revenue”.

But less than two and a half hours after a draft stated the necessity of proceeding with construction work on the Altnagelvin project, the status had been changed.

While the announcement was originally drafted to be delivered on March 15, and then March 16, the statement was finally delivered by Mr McGimpsey on March 23, as the Assembly met for the last time; at that stage the Minister stunned people of all political hues in the North West by mothballing plans for the radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin.

Answering questions from the Sentinel after the documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, a Department of Health spokesman said yesterday that officials drew up “a series of drafts” adding that the final version “represented the points the Minister wished to communicate to the Assembly”.

The revelation is sure to reignite the furore over the reasoning behind the outgoing Minister’s controversial decision but it also suggests that the groundwork already exists for Mr McGimpsey’s move to be reversed as soon as new ministers are appointed.

According to the documentation supplied to the Sentinel, the initial drafts of Mr McGimpsey’s statement - timed at 14:01, 14:53 and 16:19 on March 14, 2011 - included an announcement that construction could proceed on the radiotherapy unit, subject to normal business case processes.

The documentation also includes an email from the Western Health and Social Care Trust that same afternoon - timed at 14:36 - sent following a telephone conversation with a Department of Health official the previous Friday, which suggested that due to growing demand the whole of Northern Ireland would benefit from the Londonderry facility.

It said: “By 2016, it is essential that radiotherapy services for patients in the north-west will transfer to the new unit at Altnagelvin to meet service demands up to 2020.”

Yet by 18:29, the draft Ministerial announcement contained no mention of the cancer unit being one of the five highest priorities. The other four original highest priority projects were given the go ahead. These, along with projects in Antrim, Craigavon, Ballymena and Banbridge were now described as “high priority schemes”.

The statement now said: “There is also a need to provide additional radiotherapy services at Altnagelvin Hospital but the final affordability of this is dependent on the outcome of discussions with the new Government in the Republic of Ireland, who will be contributing towards the costs of this project, and the ability to identify additional revenue costs associated with the development of this specialist unit.”

By the time Mr McGimpsey made his statement to the Assembly on March 23, the project that had originally been regarded as being of such high priority that it must proceed despite financial constraints, was shelved.

Asked a number of questions about the documentation, a DHSSPS spokesman said yesterday: “As with most significant announcements a series of drafts were produced by officials. However, it was the final version which represented the points the minister wished to communicate to the Assembly.”

The decision caused outrage in the North West, leading to the resignation of Londonderry man, Terry Wright, as the UUP’s deputy chairman.

Since last week’s Assembly elections, the outgoing DUP Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson has reiterated that the money was available to build the unit, claiming that “only politics” stopped it from happening.