Cancer treatment plan behind schedule

WITH the delivery of the national cancer treatment plan now three years behind schedule, many cancer patients have simply given up any hope of receiving life-saving therapy in their community, Labour’s Liz McManus claimed yesterday.

A new report reveals the €400 million treatment centres, equipped with the latest radiation technology to treat public patients, will not be ready until 2014, although promised by 2011.

The national network for radiation oncology services was announced two years ago by Health Minister Mary Harney. The network will consist of four large centres in Dublin and two integrated satellite centres in Waterford and Limerick.