The Bon Secours Radiotherapy Centre, in partnership with the UPMC Hillman Cancer Centre in Cork is today celebrating one year of providing state of the art radiotherapy treatment in Cork. The stereotactic service, which launched in the middle of the first wave of COVID-19, is the first of its kind outside of Dublin.

Ensuring our patients receive the best possible care close to home is our No. 1 priority and over the past year more than 270 treatments have been carried out, ensuring families did not have to make arduous trips to Dublin on an almost daily basis, said Mary Hickey, operations manager of the radiotherapy centre.

Hickey continued: This consultant led service delivered the first stereotactic treatment outside of Dublin a year ago today and as a result of the pandemic, we were able to care for seriously ill patients, ensuring easier and quicker access to treatments because of availability closer to home.

Located in Cork, the Bon Secours Radiotherapy Centre, in partnership with the UPMC Hillman Cancer Centre is the only radiotherapy centre in Munster to offer stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy, a non-surgical radiation therapy that uses concentrated radiation beams in high doses to tumours in hard-to-reach areas of the body while minimising damage to surrounding healthy tissues. The innovative, sophisticated technology of the Varian Edge Radiotherapy System precisely delivers doses of radiation to specific parts of the body, which results in fewer, shorter treatments for patients.

Notes

The Bon Secours Radiotherapy Centre, in partnership with the UPMC Hillman Cancer Centre is located on the ground floor of the Bon Secours Cork Cancer Centre. It is a state-of-the-art facility providing the most technologically advanced radiotherapy services to patients in the South of Ireland. Bon Secours Radiotherapy Centre, in partnership with UPMC Hillman Cancer Centre, combines the expertise of Ireland’s largest independent health care provider with UPMC’s world-renowned model of cancer care.

The UPMC Hillman Cancer Centre, which is ranked as one of the top 10 cancer hospitals in the United States, is widely 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.  In addition to the two locations in Ireland, UPMC Hillman has additional international cancer treatment facilities in Italy among its network of more than 70 cancer centres.

About UPMC in Ireland

A $23 billion healthcare provider and insurer, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centred, cost-effective, accountable care. Working in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, UPMC shares its clinical, managerial and technological skills worldwide through its innovation and commercialisation arm, UPMC Enterprises, and through UPMC International.

Providing high-quality healthcare in the South East since 2006, UPMC’s operations in Ireland now include UPMC Whitfield Hospital in Waterford, UPMC Kildare Hospital in Clane and UPMC Aut Even Hospital in Kilkenny. Outpatient care is available at the UPMC Carlow Outreach Centre, UPMC Hillman Cancer Centre radiotherapy locations at UPMC Whitfield and in Cork, the UPMC Sports Medicine Clinic at WIT Arena and the UPMC Concussion Network. UPMC is the Official Healthcare Partner of the GAA and GPA.

Visit UPMC.ie for additional information.

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