Cancer services ‘need reform’

FAR more joined-up thinking will be needed to make the revamp of the country’s cancer services a success, a leading medical expert warned.

Professor John Reynolds, consultant surgeon at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, and director of cancer services for the HSE South West region, said duplication of effort, scattering of services and waste of money characterised many hospital services across the country.

Among his criticisms were that multiple hospitals had state-of-the-art diagnostic services but inadequate treatment facilities and vice versa.