Early in his career, Séamus O’Reilly applied for a post from which the previous incumbent had been fired, after a chemotherapy overdose left one woman dead and another with irreversible heart damage. He didn’t end up in the job but remained interested in how the hospital responded to its mistakes. One key measure was the establishment of Patient Family Advisory Committees. Professor O’Reilly tells Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan that the time is ripe to consider a similar move here, in light of the CervicalCheck scandal.

CervicalCheck is to undergo an external review following revelations that it took three years to notify a woman with terminal cancer of missed abnormalities in her initial screen.

Preparing a stage debut or trekking the Camino aren’t the first things women newly diagnosed with breast cancer are likely to consider, but an inspiring photo exhibition touring the country shows no reason to stop making plans.

From the shock of a cancer diagnosis to coping with the side-effects of treatment — a new service in West Cork is designed to provide emotional and practical support to anyone struggling with the illness.

Women dealing with the distressing news that their breast cancer has come back and facing further treatment need specialist support in the form of a dedicated nurse, according to a leading cancer doctor.

On behalf of Cork ARC Cancer Support House I would like to thank Avon Cosmetics Ireland, and in particular all company representatives involved in the company’s Breast Cancer Crusade, who worked with such enthusiasm and generosity to raise funds and awareness to provide a dedicated breast cancer support service at Cork ARC.

A charity organisation is providing a liaison nurse at Cork University Hospital for women and families affected by gynaecological cancers, such as ovarian and cervical cancer.

RARELY more than random scribblings, doodles are the product of your subconscious filling the margins of a phone book or sprawling all over a piece of scrap paper.

DON’T give up the day job is the message for many of the celebrities who put pen to paper for a cancer charity — but at least it was for a very good cause.

A former Trinity College student who sold cannabis grass to his friends in order to help him pay his way through college has been given a three year suspended sentence and ordered to complete 240 hours community service.

LEGENDARY Cork hurler Joe Deane will mark next Sunday’s All-Ireland final day with a daunting appearance in front of a radically different Dublin crowd.

TWO Irish cancer patients died within weeks of each other from a very rare toxic reaction to a common chemotherapy treatment, an inquest has found.

WEST Cork LEADER’s regional branding exercise is paying off, by linking the region’s natural beauty and heritage with its reputation for quality products.

IN his letter to the Minister for Health published in the Irish Examiner (November 21), the remaining oncologist in the south and south-west, Dr Seamus O’Reilly, berated conditions for cancer patients in the region.

I AM a patient of consultant oncologist Dr Seamus O’Reilly and I fully support his concerns in highlighting cancer treatment in Cork/Kerry, and indeed throughout the island (Irish Examiner, November 21).

I WISH to congratulate Dr Seamus O’Reilly, consultant medical oncologist, and the Irish Examiner, for exposing the terrible state of cancer hospital services in Cork.

I WRITE in response to the excellent coverage you gave to the letter written by Dr Seamus O’Reilly detailing the appalling state of our cancer care services in Cork (Irish Examiner, November 21).

ACCORDING to the constitution, the number of TDs cannot be more than one per every 20,000 of the population, and cannot be less than one per every 30,000.

NURSES at Cork University Hospital (CUH) have called for hospital management to explain how the €25 million allocated to cancer services has been spent in the past three years.

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney was last night accused of giving “two fingers” to people in the southern region by her absence from a Dáil debate on cancer services.

THE Government was yesterday besieged by a prolonged chorus of angry criticism in the Dáil in the wake of the Irish Examiner publication of a letter written by a Cork consultant.

IT’S not often that the exchanges in the Dáil resembles a dressing room in Saipan or in Old Trafford. But yesterday the deputies from Cork showed why they come from a place called the Rebel County.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday said final approval had been given for two major cancer facilities in Cork in the wake of a damning letter by a leading consultant.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was defending the indefensible in the Dáil yesterday.

The Dáil was suspended for a total of 25 minutes tonight after a Fine Gael TD refused to leave the chamber after being suspended for gross disorder.

OPPOSITION parties have called for the Tánaiste to personally respond to a letter from a hospital consultant in the south which they said “shows a health system out of control”.

CANCER patients in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow have access to more than four times the number of cancer specialists as people in the rest of the country.

IT is utterly unacceptable for Health Minister Mary Harney to attempt to pass the buck following the impassioned plea to her by a cancer specialist to improve the quality and safety of cancer care in the southern region.

A DAMNING letter sent to Health Minister Mary Harney by a leading consultant paints a truly shocking picture of the suffering being endured by patients, the Labour Party said last night.

THIS is the damning letter sent by a leading consultant to Tánaiste Mary Harney and leaked to the Irish Examiner which exposes the chronic state of cancer services in the south of the country.

The one real certainty in life is ultimate death, so everyone should be concerned - even if only for their own sake - about the way dying people are treated.

ANOTHER leading consultant is to quit his post in Cork, bringing to three the number of specialists to leave the region in six months.

A BREAST cancer survivor has accused the Government of discriminating against women in Munster by delaying the rollout of the national screening programme, BreastCheck, until 2007.

THE chronic lack of resources for cancer treatment outside of the Dublin region is a damning indictment of the Government’s failure to deliver on its promise to create a world-class health service in Ireland.

A HOSPITAL from which a cancer specialist resigned in frustration at the lack of a dedicated ward for his patients has rooms lying idle due to lack of funding.

AN award-winning cancer treatment specialist has quit his job at one of the country’s busiest hospitals because of a lack of resources.

AROUND 65 women are dying from breast cancer each year because the Government has failed to fully implement a national screening programme, it was claimed yesterday.

IT will take four more years before the national breast-screening programme is fully rolled out, the Department of Health admitted yesterday.