‘Decades before cancer survival rates improve’

IT could take up to 20 years or more before the overhaul of cancer services has a significant impact on overall survival rates for the disease in this country, Ireland’s cancer control chief warned yesterday.

Professor Tom Keane, who heads the Health Service Executive’s National Cancer Control Programme, said a European league table for five-year cancer survival rates ranked Ireland 18th out of 23 countries.

The professor said while the country could not be proud of its cancer survival rates, it was something that could be addressed, despite the economic downturn, because the resources were available.