MUH Foundation confirm cancer care centre is on course to be completed by year end

NEW state-of-the-art cancer care centre in the city is on course to be completed before the end of the year.

Mercy University Hospital Foundation has confirmed that works at 9 Dyke Parade, to convert the disused Georgian property into the Mercy Cancer CARE Centre — a long-term objective of the hospital foundation — should be completed by mid-December.

Works on the centre got under way last August, with Ross Buildings Ltd of Tralee appointed as the main contractor.

Speaking to The Echo, Mercy University Hospital Foundation chief executive Paschal McCarthy said there is “a lot of excitement” that the project is nearing completion.

“We visit the site routinely to watch it develop and it’s fantastic to see the stage we’re at now.

“We’re plastering internally, we’ve painted the external, internal doors are being fitted at the minute — it’s getting very, very close to the end line,” he explained.

When completed, the 3,000sq ft building will be transformed into a modern non-clinical facility which will provide a quiet and safe place for patients and their families to access a range of services to support those affected both directly and indirectly by a cancer diagnosis.

The centre will be the home to the flagship psycho-oncology service which is delivered by clinical psychologists and is available to patients — child, adolescent and adult — with a cancer diagnosis who attend the Mercy University Hospital, as well as their family members.

“We will have a number of therapy rooms where Dr Tara Houlihan and her team will assist cancer patients and their families on the mental journey that cancer brings with it,” Mr McCarthy said.

“We have a very nice library being built which will have both online and hard copy materials related to cancer, to surviving cancer, to coping with the stresses and strains that it brings for both parents, partners and indeed the patient”.

The facility, he said, will also be used as a training facility for psychology students.

“We will also have the facility to train psychology students and the plan is to have a rotation of students from both UCC and UL rotating through the facility to increase the pool of psychologists who are aware of and trained in cancer treatment,” he said.

Asked about the impact of the psycho-oncology service, Mr McCarthy said it can make a big difference in the lives of service users.

“I’ve spoken to a few of the service users, and they find it absolutely incredible. It really kind of helps them focus, helps them get through the really tough times. When times get really tough and dark, it’s nice to have a tool kit that they can revert to and somebody they can call,” he said.

Speaking at the time construction on the new centre commenced, Dr Tara Houlihan, senior clinical psychologist, psycho-oncology at the Mercy University Hospital, said the team at the centre will offer extensive support to cancer patients and their loved ones as they deal with an extremely difficult time in their, and their loved one’s lives.

“Our team will offer psychological support to patients and families at every step of the journey — following diagnosis, during treatment, and beyond — and will provide assessment and a range of psychologically-based therapeutic interventions matched to the patient and their family’s emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual needs,” she said.

The construction cost of the new centre is a little over €2.5m, with fundraising efforts still ongoing.

• For more information or to make a donation toward the centre visit www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie