South Tyrone Hospital is Rapid Diagnosis Centre

A strategy that aims to deliver top class outcomes for people in Northern Ireland diagnosed with cancer has been launched by Health Minister Robin Swann.
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In an important step forward for a key goal in the Strategy, the Minister revealed the locations for two prototype Rapid Diagnosis Centres which will serve patients from across Northern Ireland.

These will be established at South Tyrone Hospital in Dungannon and Whiteabbey Hospital in Newtownabbey.

Work will now begin on making the plans a reality, with a view to welcoming their first patients later this year.

PressEye - Belfast - Northern Ireland -22nd March 2022



Picture by Philip Magowan / PressEyePressEye - Belfast - Northern Ireland -22nd March 2022



Picture by Philip Magowan / PressEye
PressEye - Belfast - Northern Ireland -22nd March 2022 Picture by Philip Magowan / PressEye

Launching the Cancer Strategy during a visit to the South Tyrone Hospital, Minister Swann said: “Unfortunately cancer will impact on all our lives at some point either directly or indirectly.

“Therefore the central vision of the new strategy is to ensure that everyone in Northern Ireland, wherever they live, has equitable and timely access to the most effective, evidence-based referral, diagnosis, treatment, support and person centred cancer care.

“Regrettably cancer services were challenged before the pandemic and there continues to be significant capacity and workforce challenges across a range of areas.

“Therefore there is a need to move forward urgently to implement the actions outlined in this Strategy to rebuild and transform our services in the short, medium and longer term.”

The new Strategy sets out 60 high-level recommendations that will enable significant strategic changes to be taken forward over the next decade.

The recommendations cut across four key themes:

Theme 1: Preventing Cancer - reduce the growth in the number of people diagnosed with preventable cancers.

Theme 2: Diagnosing and Treating Cancer - to improve survival.

Theme 3: Supporting People to Live and Die Well - to improve the experience of people diagnosed with cancer

Theme 4: Implementing the Strategy.

The Health Minister also said the Rapid Diagnosis Centres are an example of one of the short-term commitments within the Strategy being progressed.

He explained: “The Rapid Diagnosis Centres will be piloted at both the South Tyrone Hospital and the Whiteabbey Hospital and will enable patients from across Northern Ireland who have non-specific but concerning symptoms to get diagnosis support when they do not meet the criteria for red flag referral.”