Patients dying over shortages, says consultant

CANCER sufferers are dying needlessly because of a shortage in life-saving radiotherapy services, it has emerged.

Cancer consultants say only half of the 11,000 patients a year who need treatment are getting it because of inadequate treatment facilities and staff shortages.

Dr Séamus Ó Cathail, a consultant radiotherapist in Cork University Hospital (CUH), said that while there had been slow progress in recent years, patients would continue to suffer if resources were not pumped into recruiting staff and developing new facilities.

He said his own unit in CUH was at full capacity but there were thousands more nationally who aren't getting treatment.

"There has been some progress but it has been glacially slow. In Cork we have two empty rooms which could be used for treatment but we don't have the staff. To a large extent things have stood still since the 1980s," Dr Ó Cathail said.

The Government is considering a report into radiotherapy services which will act as a blueprint for the development of services nationally.

The main centres for radiotherapy are in Cork and Dublin, while patients outside these areas face major obstacles to getting treatment.

Health Minister Micheál Martin said yesterday he was committed to developing cancer services and the provision of additional radiotherapy services would be considered on foot of the expert report.

Mr Martin also said a national cancer strategy was being drawn up which will guide the development of services over the next 10 years.

While the report is expected to suggest where new treatment centres should be based, cancer specialist Dr Ian Fraser believes there should be radiotherapy units, serving the island of Ireland, in Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Derry.

Dr Seamus O'Reilly, former consultant medical oncologist for the Waterford region, says the lack of facilities mean some women with breast cancer are forced to have mastectomies rather than face radiotherapy in Dublin.

Radiotherapy units in Dublin and Cork treat more than 6,000 patients annually according to Dr Ó Cathail, which means up to 5,000 are not getting treatment.

The figures are backed up by a five-year National Cancer Registry study, which found 50% of patients with lung cancer receive no cancer-specific treatment.

This compares to non-treatment rates of 15% to 20% in the US.

There is also evidence of the role geography plays 40% of patients nationally have radiotherapy for breast cancer, compared to just 24% in the Western Health Board.