By Melissa Towell

A spokesperson for Donegal Action for Cancer Care said she is delighted that the colposcopy service is to be retained at Letterkenny General Hospital.

The hospital has been named as one of 12 referral centres throughout the country to be included in the Cervical Check programme. The announcement came after weeks of negotiations between the National Cancer Screening Service and staff at the hospital, as well as public campaign to save the service.

 Betty Holmes of DACC said: “This is a brilliant example of people power at work. When people realised the quality of the service being provided at Letterkenny General Hospital there was a fear it would be taken away from them and they really rowed in behind the campaign.

“There were 50,000 fliers sent out and 18,000 postcards were posted. It was amazing to see people come into the office and ask for 10 or 20 postcards to pass on to neighbours in their area. It is the small things like that that really counted.”

However Ms. Holmes was keen to point out that there is still an issue regarding the standard of accommodation before the hospital is formally announced the 12 centre for the programme.

“We must keep the pressure on. The accommodation still needs to be sorted. We don’t expect this to happen today or tomorrow but we don’t want to be at the same point in six months time. We need to keep our eye on the ball.”

Ms. Holmes also wished to thank everyone who supported the campaign in any way.

“We have an excellent calibre of staff in Letterkenny General hospital. We need to ensure they have the best possible resources to carry out their work effectively.”

Local politicians also welcomed the announcement about the colposcopy clinic including Donegal Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill and Dr. James McDiad T.D.

Dr. McDaid Said “I think all the credit has to go to Mr. Aboud and the dedicated staff at the hospital, also to DACC and all the people who have sent letters and made calls on this matter.  This is a great day for Letterkenny General Hospital”