Sarcoma Ireland is back in the news.

Visit here for latest updates https://www.facebook.com/sarcomaireland Sarcoma Ireland are back in the news. Thank you to Jim Gallagher for getting our story published. Pressure is mounting on Saint Vincents University Hospital to provide an independent review of the recruitment process. Read the story here too http://www.dublinlive.ie/…/cancer-patients-demand-meeting-h… We have just written to every TD and Senator requesting their support. See open letter below. But we also need your help. Please contact your local TD and/or senator and let them know you support Sarcoma Ireland. With your help, we can achieve our goal together. --- An Open letter to The T.D’s and Senators of Ireland By Email. 21st May 2017 Dear All, It is with great distress and pain that we find ourselves writing to you again to call for your help and support. In June of 2016 we started a campaign to retain the services of a specialist Sarcoma Consultant in St. Vincent’s Hospital. With the help of TD’s and Senators across Ireland and especially Senator Máire Devine, we successfully campaigned and achieved our Goal where Minister Simon Harris approved the position for a full time Sarcoma Specialist to be appointed to St. Vincent’s with equal experience or more than the consultant who had held the previous position along with retaining the services of the outgoing consultant till there was a replacement in St. Luke’s Of Rathgar. However, all was not as it seemed, the advertising and recruitment process in St. Vincent’s from day one has been flawed. Only two candidates applied for the position, one being the experienced Sarcoma specialist who had originally held the post and the other a consultant who is currently in the process of completing her fellowship in the US. Sarcoma Ireland has continuously written to both the HR Department and the CEO of Saint Vincents Prof. Michael Keane highlighting this and asking for it to be righted. This has not happened to date. We have called on Prof. Keane to have an independent review conducted by ESMO (European Society of Medical Oncologists) into the hiring of the lesser experienced candidate, but he has refused (see attached open letter to Prof Keane). We have called on Minister Simon Harris, Jerome Coffey (Head of the National Cancer Control Programme NCCP) and Tony O’Brien (Head of the HSE )to review and issue a joint response in support of us (see letter attached) but this has not happened. We have called for an urgent meeting with Minister Harris, Mr Coffey & Mr. O Brien. Please see attached a timeline of our letters which will give a clear indication of how hard we are pushing to have this very serious breach of both patient care and public funds addressed and corrected, but to date we are being ignored, we have restarted our public campaign and are receiving messages of help and support from not only Ireland but all across the world. People are horrified at the contempt being shown to sarcoma patients. We call on you all in this letter to make a stand with us to have this wrong righted, and encourage Minister Harris to do the right thing, meet us and have this case reviewed independently by ESMO. Since our campaign began 10 months ago we have lost 9 members of our group, many patients have suffered relapses of this terrible disease, and there is no specialist consultant in Ireland to treat them. Regards Committee - Sarcoma Ireland