Cancer patients still coming to hospital 'too late' due to pandemic, research finds

Professor Roisin Connolly expects patients will benefit from these closer links between UCC and Cork University Hospital.

Cancer doctors are still seeing patients coming to hospital at a later stage in their illness than was usual before the pandemic, a leading oncologist has warned.

However, it is expected changes in data collection and research will help to monitor this and benefit patients, said Professor Roisin Connolly, academic director at the Cork University Hospital/University College Cork cancer centre.

This follows a report from the National Cancer Registry Ireland showing the number of cancer cases diagnosed in 2021 was 6% lower than projected. It found: “The impact of covid-19 on the health of the Irish population is anticipated to have a long tail.” 

Prof. Connolly said this continues to be the case for their patients, who attend from across Munster. “I would say we probably are still seeing that and will continue to see it,” she said.

CUH, in collaboration with UCC, recently became members of the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes and started applications for full accreditation.

“This accreditation process is going to push us to have harder data available, we are going to be increasingly accurate with the data we have available in regards to the numbers of patients that we are treating every year,” she said.

This will also include “the changes in the outcomes over time, the KPI, the key performance indicators or metrics for how quickly we can get patients in to be seen, how quickly we can get patients treated with chemotherapy.” 

She added: “All Irish hospitals are challenged by not having as optimal data access as we would in the big international health centres that might have electronic health records.” 

Prof. Connolly, a breast oncologist, expects patients will benefit from these closer links between UCC and the hospital.

“We know from international research that patients who are treated in academic environments will do better, and that is partly because of the constant drive for improvement and clinical trials,” she said.

The clinical trials unit is “very active”, she said, adding “what we want to do now is bring this to the next level” for patients’ access to research. 

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This will mean oncologists and other healthcare workers with academic positions working across both campuses, funded by UCC and National Cancer Control Programme.

This could benefit patients suffering even from rarer cancers such as brain cancer, with CUH one of just two neuro-oncology centres in Ireland. “We are catering to a third of the Irish population here in terms of neuro-oncology services, which is our brain cancer service,” she said.

“One of the academic oncologists we have just brought is in Professor Jack Gleeson who has a specific interest in neuro-oncology. We anticipate that is an area which certainly we can grow and excel in.” 

When the university and hospital are working more closely together, she said: “We can do better than if we are working in isolation.” 

A public meeting on the plans runs on Tuesday in the CUH Auditorium from 5.30pm to 7pm.