NEARLY 40 per cent of men referred by GPs to rapid access clinics set up in the past year by the national cancer control programme to ensure swift diagnosis of prostate cancer were found to have the disease.
Some 1,594 men were referred to the clinics during 2010 and more than 600 of them were diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Once referred to rapid access clinics, which are now located in each of the State’s eight designated cancer centres, patients must be seen within two weeks, thus ensuring an early diagnosis. Before the clinics opened patients could have waited months to be seen by a specialist after getting a GP referral.
Rapid access clinics for the diagnosis of lung cancer – which is often only diagnosed at late stage disease – have also been established in seven of the eight designated centres, with the eighth one to be opened shortly at Galway University Hospital.
Some 426 patients were referred to these clinics last year and 185 of them or 43 per cent of those referred were diagnosed with lung cancer.
The figures were confirmed by Dr Susan O’Reilly, the new director of the State’s cancer control programme, yesterday. She said the percentages being diagnosed with cancer after referral to the rapid access clinics was very high.
In Galway nearly half the men seen at the rapid access clinic for prostate cancer diagnosis had the disease.
Early diagnosis was very important, she stressed, as she urged people who may have persistent symptoms to see their doctor.
Meanwhile, she said it would take 10 to 15 years before Ireland will see the benefits of improvements being made in cancer services, including its screening programmes.
The uptake for BreastCheck is about 75 per cent and for CervicalCheck is about 30 per cent at this stage, she said, while a national bowel cancer screening programme will begin next January. In time she also hopes to put in place familial cancer screening for hereditary cancers.
She also said new radiotherapy facilities would open at two Dublin hospitals – St James’s and Beaumont – shortly, increasing the capacity to provide the therapy in the Dublin area by 50 per cent.
In relation to cancer prevention she said there was no question but healthy lifestyles prevent at least one third of cancers worldwide. The priorities here had to be smoking prevention, increased exercise, reduced weight, reduced alcohol consumption and protecting one’s skin.
“Smoking rates in Ireland are disgraceful. They are 29 per cent. A lot of countries that have done a lot of development around the no smoking approach have got it down to 18 or 19 per cent,” she said.
Addressing a gathering at Dublin’s convention centre to mark the launch of this year’s Daffodil Day fundraiser, she warned: “If you are a lifelong smoker, half of you will die from smoking-related diseases and a quarter of you will die young, younger than 65, from smoking related causes”.
This year the Irish Cancer Society’s annual Daffodil Day fundraiser takes place on March 25th when it hopes to raise €3.8 million to meet the increased demand for its services.
It provided financial aid to more than 1,600 people with cancer last year who experienced hardship arising from their diagnosis. It also operates a helpline and night nursing service.
One of the women attending the launch questioned Dr O’Reilly on why there were no beds at Galway University Hospital for some cancer patients travelling there from the northwest.
Dr O’Reilly said there had been challenges around access to beds in Galway, especially around Christmas, when some patients had to have their chemotherapy put off “for a week or so”.