The Minister for Health Mary Harney has told a breast cancer conference women suffering from the disease can improve their outcome by up to 25 per cent if they are treated in a specialist centre, and said eight designated cancer centres across the country were being put in place rapidly.
Speaking at the 'Surviving Breast Cancer' conference at the Alexander Hotel in Dublin today, Ms Harney said the one thing that could be done in memory of women like Ann Moriarty and Edel Kelly who died of cancer after not being properly treated at Ennis General Hospital was to move as rapidly as possible with the provision of the eight cancer centres, moving breast cancer services from smaller hospitals into the designated centres.
There also had to be a no blame culture so that people who made errors reported them in order to minimise the capacity of them occurring again, she said.
Asked if she could reassure people that the system was learning from mistakes she said: "The greatest reassurance of all is that we are putting in place our eight designated centres and thats happening very
rapidly. We have withdrawn breast cancer surgery and diagnosis from 17 different hospitals over the past year and there is still opposition to that ... but the fact is that its only when a woman is treated in a designated centre that her outcome improves by up to 25 per cent."
She insisted the vast majority of cancer patients in the State get "an incredibly good service" but stressed if anyone had concerns they should visit their GP.
Ms Harney also said she expected the terms of reference for the inquiry into services at Ennis Hospital, being put in place following the misdiagnosis of Ms Moriarty and Ms Kelly, would be finalised over the next week. She said she wanted it completed within three months.
"I don't want issues hanging over the hospital any longer than that," she said.
The conference was hosted by Europa Donna Ireland, the Irish branch of Europa Donna (ED), the European Breast Cancer Coalition.
The coalition is an independent non-profit organisation whose members are affiliated groups from countries throughout Europe.
Earlier today, the Irish branch of Europa Donna called on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to expedite the establishment of specialist breast centres, saying that delays will cause lives will be lost prematurely.
Speaking at the conference, Ms Christine Murphy-Whyte, Europa Donna Chairperson, said the time for more deliberation is over and that the focus must now go into bringing properly resourced centres of excellence on stream as quickly as possible.
Ms Murphy-Whyte said there has been much pandering to vested interest and that the lives of women need to be prioritised.
“The women affected by breast cancer along with their families need to get behind the campaign for the centres of excellence.
“The alarming revelations of the past three weeks along with last years scandals relating to serious deficiencies in breast cancer services have highlighted the urgent need for Specialised Breast Centres to be resourced as quickly as possible."
Commenting on the value specialist centres which enable multidisciplinary teamwork, Ms Murphy-Whyte said:
“Politicians campaigning for localised services to be retained need to be made aware that they are doing their local area a disservice by doing so. A woman’s chance of survival is increased by up to 20 per cent in attending a Specialist Breast Centre."
“People are misunderstanding the cancer strategy and are attempting to portray that no cancer support service will be available outside of the centres of excellence.
The groups works to raise awareness of breast cancer and lobbies for improved breast cancer education, appropriate screening, optimal treatment and increased funding for research.
ED represents the interests of European women regarding breast cancer to local and national authorities as well as to institutions of the EU.
Other speakers at today's conference included Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, Professor Tom Keane, Interim Director National Cancer Control Programme and Judy Caldwell, Founder of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.