Four centres proposed in cancer care plan

The long awaited report into the siting of radiotherapy services recommends an investment of €300 million in four radiation treatment centres; one each for Galway and Cork and two in the eastern region.

However, it opens the possibility of "satellite" centres being provided in areas such as the south east, north west and mid west, once the national radiation treatment units are fully operational in 2015.

And the sites of the two eastern-based centres remains unclear as the report: The Development of Radiation Oncology Services in Irelandsays that St Lukes does not meet all the guidelines for a future radiation oncology centre.

The Cork centre will be based at Cork University Hospital with the western centre based at University College Hospital, Galway. The units will have to cater for more than one health board area.

Publishing the report this morning, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said he and the Government accepted the recommendations in the report. Mr Martin said the funding required for the programme would be prioritised within the health budget.

Today's report was significant because it challenges what are often presented as the three most important aspects to the provision of a service; "location, location, location", he said.

Referring to a high profile campaign by regions such as the south west who demanded a treatment unit Mr Martin stressed that geography would not be a barrier to equal access under the supra regional model outlined in the report.

What the report made clear was the quality of care, not location was the priority, he said. Out of a hierarchical list of 15 criteria put to patient's group when drawing up the report proximity was 13th.

Mr Matin said the development of four large centres was "the first phase".

In the short term, Cork University Hospital is to receive two additional linear accelerators which provide the radiation treatment. He also promised that €12 million would be provided to update radiotherapy services in Galway. These developments will lead to the appointment of an additional five radiation consultants.

Professor of clinical oncology at St Luke's Hospital, Donal Hollywood, chaired the expert group asked by the Minister three years ago to report on the current state of radiation services in the State and the measures required to bring them up to international standards.

He stressed the urgency of implementing the report and meeting its targets. One in three Irish people will develop cancer he said and the disease will kill one in four. There were 19,500 new cases in 1998 and by 2015 almost 27,000 people will be developing cancer cases every year.

"We don't have a choice here. We have to [implement the report], anything else is indefensible", he said.

The report notes that the State's existing infrastructure is ill-equipped to meet even its current requirements. Prof Hollywood said only a third of cancer patients requiring radiotherapy treatments have access to the service.

Cancer services also have serious infrastructural and staffing deficiencies. There are just two consultants in radiation oncology per million of population in Ireland, the lowest in Western Europe and far behind the recommended level of 10 per million.

There are also just over one third of the required linear accelerators. The equivalent of 10 are provided at the moment compared with the 27 required by a country with Ireland's population, said Prof Hollywood. By 2015 the country will need 38.