Bon Secours Cork has opened its new, comprehensive Cork Cancer Centre, which is now treating its first patients as part of the hospital’s ground-breaking €77 million expansion.
In partnership with UPMC, a leading U.S.-based academic medical centre affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, the new Cork Cancer Centre will offer patients in Cork and Munster the most technologically advanced radiotherapy services in the south of Ireland.
With medical, surgical and radiation oncology under one roof, the new centre is a holistic cancer offering that will provide integrated cancer care, including rapid screening, timely diagnosis and advanced treatment. It’s part of an overall development of the Bon Secours Cork Hospital that includes 81 private rooms, 4 additional operating theatres, a new 23-bed day infusion ward and a new Critical Care Unit.
The new radiotherapy services will be led by respected local Radiation Oncologist Paul Kelly. Dr Kelly said:
“It’s a real honour for me as a Radiation Oncologist to offer state-of-the-art radiotherapy including stereotactic technology to patients in the region for the first time. Providing access to care in a timely manner with the support of the world-leading experience and quality assurance of UPMC is a very exciting opportunity.”
The new radiotherapy service will be provided to patients as part of a joint venture between Bon Secours and the UPMC Hillman Cancer Centre, one of the largest cancer treatment networks in the United States, with nearly 70 locations internationally and centres located at UPMC Whitfield in Waterford and Italy. Patients will now have access to advanced radiotherapy services previously unavailable in Munster, including Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS), a non-surgical radiation therapy that uses concentrated radiation beams in high doses to destroy tumours in hard-to-reach areas of the body, while minimising damage to surrounding healthy tissues. This autumn, the centre will begin using the innovative Varian Edge machine to deliver highly focused treatments in fewer sessions.
Building on Bon Secours’ established track-record in cancer treatment, including 21 years of clinical trials, the new Cork Cancer Centre features a state-of-the-art oncology department and an innovative onsite Pharmacy Compounding Unit, which enables preparation of specifically-tailored chemotherapy for individual patients. 50 new jobs have also been created with the opening of the Cork Cancer Centre.
Bill Maher, Group CEO of the Bon Secours Health System, said:
“Our new state-of-the-art Bon Secours Cork Cancer Centre offers best-practice, technologically-advanced radiotherapy services, as part of our joint-venture with UPMC, which were previously unavailable to patients in the region. Complementing our established medical and surgical oncology services, this development greatly enhances our capacity to provide a world-class cancer service to patients in need of advanced medicine in this area. The opening of this new centre, which is already caring for its first patients, is a proud day for Cork and marks an important milestone in the €77 million development of the healthcare services we are providing to patients in the Munster region.”
David Beirne, senior vice president of UPMC International and CEO of UPMC Whitfield Hospital said:
“Patients locally who would have previously had to travel to Dublin for advanced radiotherapy services can now receive this critical care closer to home. The UPMC Hillman Cancer Centre, which is ranked as one of the top 10 cancer hospitals in the United States, is universally recognised for its high standards of service, scientifically based treatment protocols, extensive research and technologically advanced treatments as part of its multi-disciplinary care management. We are delighted to build on our long-standing relationship with Bon Secours to support the creation of the new Cork Cancer Centre, which is second-to-none in terms of convenient, state-of-the-art screening and treatment in the region.”
Harry Canning, Hospital Manager at Bon Secours Hospital Cork, said:
“We are delighted to be partnering with UPMC to offer the most advanced radiotherapy services possible as part of a one-stop-shop for all critical cancer services patients who need access to screening, diagnosis and treatment. This is being complemented by a wider expansion of our healthcare services, which we are delighted to say are covered by all major medical health insurers in the Irish market.
“Part of the new hospital expansion includes a new Critical Care Unit that will provide highly-skilled diagnosis and best-practice treatment to acutely ill patients across all our medical and surgical areas of expertise. This all forms part of what has been an extensive development of our Cork hospital and is a huge milestone in our drive to deliver advanced medicine and exceptional care to an increasing number of patients across the region.”
Bon Secours Hospital Cork is currently one of the largest employers in the region employing over 1,100 staff and holds a number of quality accreditations including JCI (Joint Commission International), INAB (Irish National Accreditation Board), Bariatric Surgery and ESMO (the European Society for Medical Oncology accreditation). The extensive €77 million expansion is the largest ever investment undertaken by the Bon Secours Health System and is a key part of its overall €150 million investment in its healthcare services across Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Tralee and Cavan.
