The Department of Health has been urged to revise its cancer service programme after an international study highlighted the high Irish death rate from breast cancer. The disease kills 640 women annually.
Dr John Crown, consultant medical oncologist to St Vincent's Hospital and St Luke's Hospital, Dublin, said facilities for treating cancer should be rationalised, with two or three major centres in Dublin and one each in Galway and Cork. There should also be a network of cancer units in various parts of the State with links to the major centres.
"This would enable the great majority of people suffering from common cancers to get most of the treatment in their own locality and have the fall-back resource of a major centre of high expertise," he said.
The study, carried out by UK analysts Datamonitor and reported in yesterday's Sunday Tribune, suggested women in Ireland with breast cancer were twice as likely to die than women developing the disease in the United States.
Dr Crown told The Irish Times Ireland should look to continental west European models, which had "rational" cancer systems.
"A key element in all of them is that a comprehensive cancer centre is located in one hospital. We do not have any such hospital in the public sector in Ireland, although we have several in the private sector. From what I can see from the national cancer strategy, there are no plans to change that, certainly in Dublin." Dr Crown also called for the provision of radiotherapy facilities in Galway.
He sought more funds for cancer services. "Clearly in a society which has recently decided it can afford to spend up to £2 billion in deafness compensation claims, and give £20 million to the GAA, more money could be found for cancer treatment.
"I think that a great deal of money is currently wasted. If we end up having, as I suspect we will, chemotherapy administered in 12 different hospitals in the public sector in Dublin, how could that make economic sense?"
A Department of Health national breast cancer screening programme is due to get under way next September. It will begin on a phased basis in the Eastern, North Eastern and Midlands Health Board areas.
