Talks on a range of psychological coping strategies for patients with cancer, and their families

• Thursday 11th March: Coping with Cancer: How do I take care of myself while the doctors care for my cancer?
• Thursday 8th April: The Etiquette of Illness: What to say when you can’t find the words
• Thursday 13th May: Cancer & Body Image: Making the transition from cancer patient to cancer survivor
• Thursday 10th June: Cancer and the Family: Our Different Needs within the Shared Experience
• Thursday 8th July: Sexuality and Cancer: The personal and interpersonal
• Thursday 12th August: Coping with Poor Sleep: The mind and body connection

The lectures will take place on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 1-2pm, in the Education Centre, Room 1. They will be 45 mins in duration followed by 15 mins of discussion. Each monthly lecture is presented by a St. Luke’s Psychologist that specialises in cancer care. No cost. No registration needed.

Other on-going services offered by the Psycho-oncology Department: Weekly Relaxation Sessions using Progressive Muscular Relaxation for patients and relatives take place every Thursday from 11-11.30 in the Judge Room (located beside Ward C)

Four hundred additional cancer patients will be treated each year at St Luke’s Hospital with the most advanced radiotherapy equipment available in Ireland as a result of the installation of four new linear accelerators (LINACS) in 2008, at a cost of in excess of €15m.

The new radiation technology at St Luke’s will improve survival and quality of life for cancer patients. St Luke’s was the first public hospital in Ireland to make this technology available to patients.

The LINACS at St Luke’s Hospital provide a combination of two powerful tools to ensure the most accurate and effective concentration of radiation treatment on cancerous tumours: Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) and Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT).

The Minister for Health and Children , Mary Harney, officially opened the new units at St. Luke’s on 26 January 2009.

St. Luke’s Hospital Blood Bank and Haemovigilance Service was awarded Accreditation to the internationally recognised Standard ISO 15189.

The award recognises the continuing quality of service that the Blood Bank of Saint Luke’s provides to all patients.

The achievement of this accreditation involved the establishment of a rigorous Quality Management System coupled with an intensive Internal Audit programme over a one year period by laboratory/ Haemovigilance staff. The Hospital blood bank provides a service on site on a 24 hour, all year round, basis, thus ensuring that the radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment of our patients is not interrupted.

The upgrade of the Diagnostic Imaging Department in St. Luke's was very successful. It involved the replacement of x-ray and ultrasound equipment together with integrating the RIS (Radiology Information System) PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) system.
The oldest conventional simulator (Elekta) in the Hospital was replaced with a second large bore CT simulator and associated virtual simulation workstations.
These developments were funded by The Friends of St. Luke’s Hospital.