The Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has said the closure of certain cancer treatment centres around Ireland is inevitable if proper standards of care are to be provided.
The minister was speaking at an International Patient Safety Conference, which is being held at the Croke Park Conference Centre in Dublin.
The conference has been organised in conjunction with the World Alliance for Patient Safety and the Health Information & Quality Authority and is being attended by delegates from 27 countries.
Addressing the gathering, Mary Harney said difficult decisions on the provision of cancer care services were needed in order to insure proper care standards are provided.
She said some treatment centres must close, adding that patients faced with a choice of local services or high quality treatment would choose the high quality option each time.
Addressing the recruitment freeze within the HSE, she said it was necessary in order for the executive to come within its budgets for this year.
Referring to the decision to continue to pay performance related bonuses to HSE senior management, she said it was a public service pay policy issue.
She also said setting aside public pay policy was not necessary in order for the HSE to come within its annual budget.
