Medical expert condemns the distances travelled by cancer victims for treatment

THE benefit of cancer treatment is being outweighed by the arduous journeys patients are having to make to get it, a medical expert said yesterday.

Dr Ian Fraser, a consultant in radiotherapy at St Luke’s Hospital, said he had seen patients who had died partially as a result of travelling to Dublin for treatment: “We see patients making a huge commitment for two hours’ treatment. One woman was away from her family and home for 500 hours.”

The cancer specialist is one of a number of doctors, trade unionists, politicians and support groups who have joined forced to secure a realistic budget for cancer care.