HSE West and North West - University of Galway Cancer Network receives European accreditation

The HSE West and North West – University of Galway Cancer Network is delighted to announce that it has been accredited by the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI).

OECI is an organisation of European cancer centres founded in 1979 to provide patients equal access to high quality cancer care through cooperation and knowledge exchange.  HSE West and North West – University of Galway Cancer Network is only the 20th such network to achieve cancer centre accreditation across Europe.

The highly sought after accreditation follows several years of rigorous review and engagement with the European team including a peer review visit which took place last May.

This saw a panel of European experts visit a number of hospitals across our region to assess all elements of the cancer programme.

The OECI team evaluated 345 standards across our Regional Cancer Programme. This process has helped to strengthen our clinical pathway, improve patient’s outcomes through enhanced processes and will ultimately help to increase the numbers of patients participating in clinical trials.

The European body has now confirmed that the HSE West and North West – University of Galway Cancer Network met the quality standards for cancer care and research and has been designated as an OECI Cancer Centre.

The OECI Accreditation and Designation programme is considered internationally as the gold standard for cancer care. It focuses on enabling a complete quality system for cancer diagnosis, care, education and research.

In gaining this prestigious accreditation the HSE West and North West – University of Galway Cancer Network has committed to ongoing quality improvement in cancer care through research, innovation, partnership and patient empowerment.

Professor Michael Kerin, Director of the HSE West and North West – University of Galway Cancer Network welcomed the announcement adding: “This acknowledgement is a testament to the hard work of our incredible staff. This took an enormous amount of work across our hospitals and a huge amount of support from the voluntary organisations working in our region. 

“We were evaluated on 345 standards and we will now focus on the 33 point quality improvement plan which will deliver a fit for purpose cancer centre for the West and North West region. This was a commitment of the National Development Plan and we now need to ensure we have the resources, national support and infrastructure to deliver a fully accredited cancer network.  The fact that we have been given cancer centre status is hugely valuable and our ability to recruit, retain and develop our staff and deliver really good care has been enhanced by this process,” he added.

Tony Canavan, Regional Executive Officer, HSE West and North West said: "I want to extend my congratulations and thanks to everyone involved in getting us to this point. This has been a lengthy process but what we have seen over the course of the journey is a level of self-examination of our own services that shines a light on good practice and highlights areas where we need further work.

“This is a major programme across Europe and we are the 20th cancer centre to be accredited in this programme.  This acknowledges our ongoing commitment to improving outcomes and delivering better care to our population in a research and education driven environment,” he added.

The network is a clinical academic partnership between HSE West North West and the University of Galway and is aligned with the strategic priorities of the National Cancer Strategy (2017-2026).

Prof Martin O’Donnell, Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences University of Galway added: “Our collaborative ambition is to create a centre of excellence delivering the highest international standards in cancer treatment, research and education and the OECI accreditation process is critical to achieving this goal. Congratulations to Prof Kerin and HSE West and North West for their dedication to developing patient-centred cancer care.”

The HSE West and North West cancer programme provides a wide range of cancer services to a population of 830,000 people across the region. In line with the national model of care (a hub and spoke model), complex care is located at University Hospital Galway with satellite centres delivering care closer to home in Letterkenny University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital, Mayo University Hospital and Portiuncula University Hospital.

Notes
In 2021, the then Saolta University Cancer Network became a member of the OECI with a view to becoming an European accredited cancer network to quality assure the cancer programme within region. Following membership and preliminary designation screening by the OECI, the network undertook an extensive self-assessment process against the OECI standards with a completed submission delivered in February 2024.

This was approved by the OECI Accreditation and Designation (A&D) Board, and resulted in a peer review visit in May 2024.