The Minister for Health, Ms Harney, has declined to give a specific commitment to introduce a national screening programme for cervical cancer. Dr Muiris Houston, Medical Correspondent, reports.
She was speaking following the publication yesterday of research which found that death rates from cervical cancer in the Republic exceeded those in Britain and Northern Ireland due to a lack of a national screening programme for the illness here.
Deaths from cervical cancer have fallen substantially in the UK since a national screening programme was introduced in 1988. In the Republic, however, there has been a year-on-year increase in deaths from the same cancer.
A pilot screening programme was introduced in the Mid Western Health Board in 2000. Despite its success, and an acknowledgement of the need for a national roll-out of the programme, there has been a failure to prioritise the issue.
Ms Harney attended the World Conference for Cancer Organisations in Dublin yesterday. Declining to give a commitment to a national cervical cancer screening programme, she said: "I have been informing myself of the strategies and policies in the cancer care area and I will be having further discussions with my officials in relation to cancer screening programmes".
Confirming that the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) recently met with the Department of Health regarding the issue, a spokeswoman said: "Although the Department are aware of the case for nationwide cervical cancer screening, they are not prepared to give any commitment to a timeline for implementation or the budget that would be allocated". She said the ICS had serious concerns regarding the lack of national cervical cancer screening in view of its proven efficacy in other countries.
Researchers from Britain told the conference that human papilloma virus (HPV) was the most important risk factor for cervical cancer. Dr Linda Sharp, who now works with the National Cancer Register here, said factors associated with HPV infection were youth and a lack of physical activity. Women who had had children were at a significantly reduced risk of having HPV.
Meanwhile, the conference heard that cancer patients are becoming increasingly more powerful in influencing their care. Patients' forums improve quality of care and play an important role in reducing the social stigma associated with cancer.
"We are seeing a growing body of people who are helping drive real change in the way health services are delivered," Ms Isabel Mortara, executive director of International Union Against Cancer, said.
Irish researchers told the conference that fatigue was the key side effect experienced by cancer patients, both during and after treatment. Some 72 per cent of patients experienced fatigue at least once a week, the researchers from University College Hospital Galway, St Luke's Hospital, Dublin and St James's Hospital, Dublin found. Fatigue management poses a real challenge for health professionals and places significant constraints on cancer patients and their families, the researchers concluded.