Physio absent from cancer patient care

Despite evidence that exercise is good for cancer patients, it is not part of standard hospital care in Ireland.

Physiotherapy exercise rehabilitation services for patients are “extremely limited”, a study published in the Irish Medical Journal has found.

“Exercise rehabilitation is not an element of standard care for patients with cancer in Ireland,” it states.

Barriers to developing and delivering exercise rehabilitation included low staffing levels and limited resources.

According to the National Cancer Registry, the lifetime risk of an invasive cancer diagnosis in Ireland is around one in three for men and one in four for women.

Exercise has been found to be safe and beneficial both during and after cancer treatment.

However, researchers from the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin found that many patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy were not referred to physiotherapy.

Physiotherapy was often used to treat patients after adverse events such as falls rather than to prevent them.

Gaps in the service include a lack of lymphoedema care and pre-operative prehabilitation, a form of strength training.

None of the eight cancer service centres included in the study provided a formal prehabilitation service and no centre had exercise classes available for patients with cancer.

Policy and public affairs manager with the Irish Cancer Society, Paul Gordon, said regular physical exercise improved the overall wellbeing of cancer patients.

“It helps to protect against some types of cancer coming back and other types of cancer developing while also reducing the symptoms of fatigue, the side-effects of cancer treatments,” said Mr Gordon.

There is a commitment in the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 that designated cancer centres will develop and implement survivorship programmes.

Such programmes being implemented between now and 2020 will emphasise the physical and psychological aspects that affect health and wellbeing.

“We look forward to the development and roll-out of these survivorship programmes, ultimately improving outcomes for cancer patients in Ireland,” said Mr Gordon.

The society, together with MEDEx in Dublin City University, is involved in a four-year study of the effects of community-based exercise rehabilitation on cancer survivors’ physical well-being and quality of life.

Results of the study are expected next year.