Disease awareness: Ireland urgently needs a national brain strategy to bring neurological services up to date for the estimated 500,000 people with a brain condition, a leading neurologist has said.
Dr Tim Lynch, consultant neurologist at the Mater hospital in Dublin, was speaking at the start of International Brain Awareness Week, which began yesterday and runs until next Monday.
He said the State had fallen years behind in the provision of neurology services and that the area needed to be given as much attention as cardiac and cancer care. Currently, some patients with conditions such as Parkinson's disease must travel abroad for specialist treatment.
A report published by Comhairle na nOspidéal three years ago said Ireland needs nearly three times more neurologists to provide the necessary levels of service throughout the State.
There are currently 17 neurologists, but the 2003 report said this number should rise to 39.
Prof Ciarán Bolger, head of research and development in neurosurgery at Beaumont hospital and head of clinical neurosurgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, said in January the national neurosurgery service was "a mess".
There has been no increase in the number of neurosurgeons working in the health service in 25 years, and fewer neurosurgery operating slots are available today than two decades ago.
Prof Bolger said 200 patients were on a list for urgent surgery at the national neurosurgery centre in Beaumont, with a further 1,000 non-urgent patients.
A report on neurosurgery services is due to be published by Comhairle na nOspidéal shortly. Consultants and groups supporting people with brain conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, autism, migraine, multiple sclerosis and other conditions say the State is very much behind international standards in neurology.
Dr Lynch said Ireland was way behind other countries in providing certain treatment options to patients with certain conditions. "The brain is probably the most important organ in the body, but it does not seem to get the attention it should get."
"The area of neuroscience in the past 20 years has just exploded - there are new treatments and we have a new understanding of how the brain works. But the problem in Ireland is that we are lagging behind."
The Neurological Alliance of Ireland (NAI) estimates that about 500,000 people in Ireland have a brain condition.