Cork University Hospital has confirmed it has a machine to prevent hair loss while undergoing chemotherapy, but that it is not in use due to \u201cstaffing and training requirements\u201d.<\/p>\n
In June 2023, then health minister Stephen Donnelly said that CUH was one of seven hospitals across the country that provide a scalp-cooling service. The machines cost approximately \u20ac20,000 each.<\/p>\n
A cold cap, or scalp-cooling machine, chills the scalp during chemotherapy to reduce blood flow to hair follicles, helping prevent or minimise hair loss.<\/p>\n
A HSE spokesperson told The Echo: \u201cCork University Hospital can confirm that a scalp-cooling machine is in place within the oncology service.<\/p>\n
\u201cWork is under way to support the introduction of this service, including staffing and training requirements. The service will become operational once the required training is completed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They told Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Cork South Central Donnchadh \u00d3 Laoghaire, in response to a parliamentary question: \u201cThe cold cap\/scalp-cooling machine is not yet operational.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing recruitment, a healthcare assistant has been appointed to manage this and is currently going through the recruitment process.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the healthcare assistant commences in post, all necessary training will be provided and then the cold cap\/scalp-cooling machine will become operational.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr \u00d3 Laoghaire said he has been contacted by many women about this issue, telling The Echo: \u201cChemotherapy on women with cancer takes an enormous toll, in so, so many ways. Hair loss is one of those significant tolls, and if it can be avoided, as it can in some instances, it should.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why there is a scalp-cooling or ‘cool cap’ machine in the CUH as well as other places. It is, in my view, unacceptable that this is not available due to a lack of training. It seems an incredible waste.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe women who have spoken to me are at pains to say that the staff are fantastic and do all they can, and plainly it is not their fault that the HSE and the CUH have not provided the requisite training.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr \u00d3 Laoghaire said the HSE response shows the machine is not currently available or operational. \u201cYet we know from responses to D\u00e1il questions that this service was introduced, or meant to be introduced, by 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we need answers \u2014 was it ever rolled out? If it was, when did it stop? What was the last time it was used? I have asked the minister for answers to these questions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr \u00d3 Laoghaire added: \u201cCancer is a terrible disease, and caused so much hardship that comes in different ways, illness, fatigue, stress and worry, and much more. Women have a right to try and keep their hair if it\u2019s possible, it\u2019s hard enough going through cancer and chemotherapy. It won’t always be possible, but if hair loss can be prevented, at least the person should have the right to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork University Hospital has confirmed it has a machine to prevent hair loss while undergoing chemotherapy, but that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[27121,103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":["post-264477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-cork-university-hospital","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}