Sir, - Thank you for reporting on the recent International Cancer Congress (The Irish Times, February 5th) at which the lower survival rates of European patients with cancer were noted compared with those in America, and subsequently for reporting (February 9th) on the inadequate support services for Irish patients with cancer. Both reports serve to highlight the lack of funding for cancer services in a country where one in four people will develop cancer by the age of 75.
In July 1998 a regional cancer service was established by the South-Eastern Health Board. This service consists of multi-specialist patient evaluation clinics in Cashel/Clonmel, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford hospitals, chemotherapy day wards in each of these hospitals, and shared-care arrangements with surgeons and general practitioners. The goal of the service is to provide state-of-the-art, seamless care for patients with cancer and their families as near to their homes as possible. Our service assesses and treats over 500 new patients with cancer per year in the region.
There has been enormous support for the service in the community we serve and among surgical, medical, nursing and health board colleagues. Nevertheless, financial support for the service in 1999 has fallen far short of projected needs and promised funds. Our budget allocation of £600,000 punts from the Department of Health (out of a Health Board budget of £250 million and Department of Health budget of over £3 billion) means that our service will run out of funds during the summer. This will have disastrous implications for our patients who are among the most vulnerable groups in our society, and for their families. Efforts to resolve this situation are ongoing.
Our situation and your reports demonstrate the inappropriately low priority that the care of patients with cancer has in our health system. I sincerely hope that they will stimulate the public awareness and political commitment that is urgently needed to redress this situation. - Yours, etc., Seamus O'Reilly,
MD PhD, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Southern Eastern Health Board,
Waterford Regional Hospital, Dunmore Road, Waterford.