Further details of how Ennis General Hospital will be used as a centre for colorectal screening are to be unveiled by the HSE this morning.
The county hospital has been chosen as one of 15 centres nationwide for a national colon cancer screening program.
Colon cancer is the second most common kind of the disease in Ireland, and is expected to become more prevalent over the course of this decade.
Ennis General is set to become one of 15 facilities nationwide to administer a national screening programme in an effort to fight the disease and today the HSE will outline its plans
The screening programme will begin in June, and will see home tests sent to people, with around 5 or 6% then called for a colonoscopy.
Patients across the West, from Kerry to Mayo, will travel to Ennis for that test.
The utilisation of Ennis as a centre for colorectal screening is seen as one of the key ways in which the hospital can form an integral part of the overall hospitals network, with critical and serious emergency care taking place at Limerick regional.
