Cancer treatment - Harney must fulfil health promises

THE chronic lack of resources for cancer treatment outside of the Dublin region is a damning indictment of the Government’s failure to deliver on its promise to create a world-class health service in Ireland.

As exclusively reported by the Irish Examiner, an award-winning cancer treatment specialist has quit his job because of a dire lack of resources, despite a four-year campaign for more personnel and better facilities for patients.

The scenario exposed by the shock resignation of Dr Oscar Breathnach, one of two oncologists serving a population of 500,000 in Kerry and Cork, is symptomatic of a health service in deep crisis.

It will undoubtedly provide more ammunition for political opponents to fire at Health Minister Mary Harney, who today unveils the hard-hitting Travers report on the State’s illegal practice of deducting money from medical card holders in nursing homes.

Both officials and politicians are rightly criticised.

The illegal practice went on for decades and could cost taxpayers €2 billion in compensation.

While former Health Minister Micheál Martin cannot evade criticism, the buck stops on the Tánaiste’s desk. She is now answerable for the shambles of Ireland’s health service, characterised by hospital waiting lists plus under-manned and overcrowded A&E services, where people have to spend days on trollies.

And though consultants have suspended strike notice over the lack of indemnity for surgeons, the Government has yet to resolve this thorny issue.

Where cancer treatment is concerned, there is urgent need for a major policy shift by a regime accused of directing the lion’s share of resources to specialist hospital units in Dublin and its sprawling hinterland.

Thus, if the Southern Health Board fails to recruit a successor following Dr Breathnach’s resignation, hundreds of cancer patients at Cork University Hospital, one of the busiest in the country, face a difficult future.

As things stand, people in the south-west have to rely on two specialists in chemotherapy, who have been struggling against the odds to provide treatment for 800 patients a year, a situation aggravated by the lack of a seven-day ward for cancer victims.

In contrast, Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital has 12 oncologists, not to mention dedicated ward facilities. Ironically, of two further oncologists due there, one is Dr Breathnach.

According to fellow oncologist Dr Seamus O’Reilly, cancer patients in Cork and Kerry should be served by a team of at least four specialists with access to dedicated ward facilities.

In a stark illustration of the crazy scenario confronting doctors, nurses and patients, a new ward at Cork University Hospital has been in mothballs for almost a year. It should be opened immediately.

Another problem facing cancer victims has been the failure to roll out the breast check scheme in the south and west of the country. As a result, more than 130,000 women are denied breast checks because the original deadline of 2003 became 2005 and has now been put back to 2007. Meanwhile campaigners in Waterford continue to campaign for radiotherapy services.

Furthermore, a pilot programme for cervical screening has been confined to the mid-west area since 2000 despite repeated calls for its extension nationwide. This means more than 900,000 women eligible for screening cannot avail of this vital public service.

The Government’s much-vaunted health strategy was based on the principles of quality, fairness and equal access to health care for all.

Ms Harney will have her work cut out to deliver on that promise.