IT COULD take up to 20 years before the reorganisation of cancer services results in improved survival rates comparable with the best in Europe, the director of the State’s cancer control programme has said.
At the launch of Daffodil Day yesterday, Prof Tom Keane said Ireland ranked close to the bottom in a league table of European countries in terms of five-year cancer survival rates. Ireland ranked 18th out of 23 European countries, which was not something to be proud of, he said.
The reasons for this included the fact that services in the past were fragmented, as well as cultural issues such as people presenting late and therefore being diagnosed late. Prof Keane’s goal in reorganising cancer services in the Republic into eight specialist centres was to have Ireland in the top quarter of the EU league table, but he said that could take up to 20 years.
He stressed, however, that improved survival rates for some cancers, such as lung cancer, would be obvious within just a few years, but for others, such as prostate cancer, it would take longer.
He still hoped to have the initial diagnosis and treatment of all breast cancer cases centralised into eight specialist centres by late spring. Breast cancer services still have to be moved from four hospitals including Sligo, Drogheda, Tallaght and the South Infirmary in Cork to these specialist centres.
When asked by Rhoda Brett, a Daffodil Day volunteer from Sligo, why patients were having to travel on a rickety road from Sligo to Galway for breast cancer care, he said only 50 new cases would be diagnosed in Sligo every year, making the services there unsustainable.
Fewer than one extra bed would be required in Galway to cater for these patients. He stressed however that services would not be transferred until Galway was ready.
“The bed requirements are the least pressing issue for breast cancer surgery, because it’s nearly all or should nearly all be done as a day case.”
Ms Brett said that a Sligo patient who travelled to Galway for radiotherapy had waited 20 hours for a bed. Prof Keane said this should not have happened but had nothing to do with the transfer of breast cancer services.
Meanwhile, Prof Keane said that outside Dublin, waiting times for prostate cancer diagnosis were “by far and away too long”. Rapid access clinics would be set up in the next 18 months, he said.
He supported the introduction of a national bowel cancer screening programme. An expert group has recommended that it should be implemented by January 2011.
“The evidence is very strong in every country that that’s where we should be going . . . I do see it happening.”
Minister for Health Mary Harney said later that she would love to see bowel cancer screening introduced, but funding may be an issue. “The priority has to be screening, but at the moment we are extremely challenged because of the financial situation we find ourselves in.”
Daffodil Day this year takes place on Friday, March 20th. The Irish Cancer Society hopes €4.25 million will be raised to support its services, including its night-nursing service for patients at the end stage of their illness.
John McCormack, chief executive of the cancer society, said he was concerned at the potential impact of the economic downturn on the society’s fundraising effort and called for more volunteers to support Daffodil Day.