Bowel cancer screening to start in May

The waiting list for colonoscopy at Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis has been dramatically slashed from two years to a maximum of three months for routine cases.
Now, all urgent colonoscopies are done within 28 days and it is expected this waiting time will be reduced even further when bowel cancer screening is introduced at the hospital for people aged between 60 and 69 in May.
People from Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, South Galway, North Cork and parts of North Kerry will soon receive invitation letters.
Ennis hospital’s endoscopy service has been approved by a top-level accreditation body, a move which opens the way for the introduction of bowel cancer screening at the hospital for the people of the Mid-West.
The endorsement was given by the UK-based Joint Advisory Group (JAG), which is the standards body for endoscopy throughout the National Health Service.
Former Ennis hospital manager Frank Keane said the new service is another vote of confidence in the hospital, which has a “bright but different future”.
Over past few years, he recalled the hospital had a few significant milestones in the development of this service. The first was the production of the vision as to how the service would work.
“We showed the National Cancer Control Programme our plan for a new Endoscopy Suite on a piece of paper. The next critical milestone was the delivery of one of the most modern endoscopy suites in the country.
“The next step was achieving the accreditation to be signed off as a full screening centre.”
He acknowledged a lot of hard work was completed by staff in Ennis and elsewhere to ensure the project came to fruition.
Ennis will get €600 per colonoscopy procedure – €500 to the endoscopy suite in Ennis and the rest to the laboratory service.
While it will not be a big money-spinner, Mr Keane acknowledged it is welcome that a hospital will be funded and staffed on the basis of the volume of work, regardless of their budgets.
The unit will be staffed depending on whether one or two rooms are in operation. The plan is to have two endoscopy suite lists per week on two half-days involving a consultant and two to three ­nursing staff in each of the rooms.
Mr Keane estimates, ­initially, between eight and 12 colonoscopies will be completed per week, depending on clinical guidelines and demand.