Cancer society backs 300m plan for care services

CONCENTRATING radiotherapy services in centres of excellence in Dublin, Cork and Galway was in the best interests of all patients, the Irish Cancer Society said yesterday.

While services should be delivered as close to the patients’ home as possible, the overriding priority must be to provide the best opportunity for curing patients, the society insisted.

Health Minister Micheál Martin is now proceeding with the development of a clinical network of large centres, recommended in a major review of the State’s radiotherapy services. He believes it is the best model to rapidly provide a radiation oncology service.

The minister said the current provision of radiotherapy was inadequate for people who have cancer and will develop cancer in the coming years.

While the Government has said consideration should be given to developing satellite centres at Waterford, Limerick and the north-west, no firm commitment has been given.

Mr Martin said he was confident he had the capital resources for developing services at Galway and Cork up to 2006, and will prioritise resources for the second phase of the 300 million investment.

The location of two centres in Dublin has not been decided. St Luke's Hospital in Dublin is one of only two radiotherapy treatment centres. The other is at Cork University Hospital.

The future of St Luke’s is in now doubt, however, because its radiation oncology unit does not meet all of the guidelines identified by the expert group.

The Irish Cancer Society, who welcomed the long-awaited radiotherapy report, said concerns expressed by local groups were not in the best interests of patients nationally.

Dr John Kennedy, consultant medical oncologist at St James’s Hospital, Dublin, and Chairman of the society, said treatment in centres of excellence were proven to cut mortality rates by 20%, and increase long-term survival.

“While ideally services should be delivered as close to the patients' home as feasible, the overriding priority must be to provide the best, safest, and most effective treatment and, in doing so, to provide the best opportunity for cure,” he said. The society has urged a review of the common expenses and travelling issues encountered by patients requiring radiotherapy in existing centres in Dublin and Cork.

Ms Jane Bailey, a member of the South-East Cancer Foundation, questioned the independent survey of 200 patients, commissioned for the report, that ranked distance to travel in 13th position out of 19 concerns listed.