The Irish Cancer Society (ICS) has said there are shocking variations across the country in terms of access to cancer tests and treatments.
It said this is causing avoidable deaths.
It said that new data identifies major variations in access to life-saving chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment and delays for patients who have been referred for urgent breast and prostate tests.
President of the Irish Society of Medical Oncology and consultant oncologist at University Hospital Galway Dr Michael McCarthy said that working in the west of Ireland, he sees the human cost of the postcode lottery in Irish cancer care every day.
He said that once chemotherapy is prescribed, the National Cancer Strategy states that it should start within 15 working days.
Dr McCarthy said the reality in Galway is that patients are now typically waiting seven to eight weeks for their first session.
He added that with every week that passes, the risk increases that their cancer will grow, or worse it will spread to other parts of their body.
He said that the system does not have enough staff, space or equipment to cope and patients are paying the price.
Investment impacting cancer care and outcomes
The HSE said that investment is having a real and measurable impact on access to cancer care and outcomes.
It added that the service is committed to ensuring all patients get timely and equitable access to cancer treatment.
ICS chief executive Averil Power said that a person’s chances of surviving cancer are up to four times higher when treated at Stage 1 than at Stage 4.
The ICS said that some radiotherapy equipment with a useful life of 10 years is now 17 years old and subject to significantly more downtime for maintenance and repairs as a result.
It said there are no PET scanners in the public cancer centres in Galway, Waterford or Limerick.
The society said there are big variations in waiting times for patients to be seen at rapid access clinics for urgent symptomatic breast disease, urgent lung and prostate cases.
Nationally, from March of last year up to February of this year, it said that only just over 73% of patients got their first appointment within the recommended time frame.
It added that the HSE Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) only record the patient’s waiting for a first appointment at the Rapid Access Clinics, not how long they have to wait for diagnostic tests to determine if they have cancer.
The society said that increasingly, tests that would have been performed on the first appointment date are not now taking place until weeks or months later.
Cancer survival rates improving – HSE
In response to the ICS statement, the HSE said that cancer survival is improving and that more people are living after cancer than ever before.
It added that today over 220,000 people here are living with or after cancer, which is a 50% increase compared with a decade ago.
The HSE said that during the lifetime of the current National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026, the National Cancer Control Programme has allocated around €90m for the development of services, including €20m for new services this year and next year.
The HSE said this has supported the created the creation of 800 wholetime posts across the public cancer services, including 12 consultants, 300 nurses and 300 health and social care professionals.
Around 40,000 cancers or related tumours are diagnosed here each year.
The overall burden of cancer in Ireland is increasing, particularly due to population growth and ageing.
