The survival rate of breast cancer patients could be increased by 20 per cent with the establishment of specialist multi-disciplinary treatment units across Ireland, a team of experts has concluded.
A sub-committee of the National Forum for Cancer Services is expected to recommend the creation of such units in Ireland, according to Prof Niall O'Higgins, who is professor of surgery at UCD and St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, and a member of the subcommittee.
The group is completing an inspection on behalf of the national forum of 20 hospitals where breast cancer treatment is provided. They will report back to the forum next month.
Multi-disciplinary units were used in Britain and on the Continent, and up to a dozen academic papers now strongly indicated that they provided a survival advantage for breast cancer patients, Prof O'Higgins said.
Such units would bring together specialist surgeons, medical, oncology, radiotherapy and specialist nursing staffs. "What is important is that the whole team is on the stage at once, rather than coming and going," he said.
Based on the British model, these units would be created to serve population bases of about 300,000 people. In some cases, it would merely be a matter of bringing together the personnel, services and facilities, the professor said. In other cases, it would mean creating new centres and providing the necessary cancer-treatment equipment.
The absence of a radiotherapy unit in the west of Ireland and deficiencies in the service in Cork would have to be rectified, he said.
Prof O'Higgins believes the Department of Health and Children would support the creation of the new units. The commencement of the national breast and cervical cancer screening programmes next year meant an excellent service would be provided for people who did not think there was anything wrong with them, he noted.
"This excellent service has to be matched by a service for people who believed they have problems," he said.
Commenting on the findings of the Caring About Women and Cancer survey, which found that some cancer patients had to wait for four or more weeks between being diagnosed with cancer and receiving treatment, Prof O'Higgins said these findings were broadly representative of the situation at the hospitals they visited.
However, it was more important in breast cancer cases to get the diagnosis and treatment right, rather than treat each case as an emergency, but he acknowledged these delays took a considerable toll in human terms, adding to the anxiety of patients.