Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 October 2004
169 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the extent to which adequate facilities are available for the treatment of cancer patients at the various hospitals throughout the country; if extra funding will be offered to hospitals which require new equipment and extra staff or upgrading of existing facilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26617/04]
View answer179 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if she has studied reports on the number of incidents of various forms of cancer on a county by county basis; her views on whether there are indications of higher incidents in certain regions; if research has been done into the contributory cause or causes; the action she proposes to deal with the issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26628/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 169 and 179 together.
Reports of the national cancer registry have examined variations in incidence of cancer among counties and health board areas during the period from 1994 onwards. Variations in case numbers, overall or for particular cancers, obviously reflect variation in population size or in population age-structure. Age standardised rates show less variation, but nevertheless some variation is evident, although, for most counties or regions, rates do not show statistically significant variation from the national average. The main exception is Dublin and the ERHA region where incidence rates are higher than the national average for cancers as a whole, and for a number of individual cancers, including lung, breast and prostate cancers. For lung and a number of other cancers, variation is strongly influenced by smoking, which tends to be most prevalent in urban, particularly deprived urban areas. For breast and prostate cancer, incidence rates may be increased in areas where there are higher levels of screening, for example, breast screening.
In general, cancers not strongly influenced by smoking, socio-economic or screening-related factors show less marked variation within Ireland and any such variation cannot readily be attributed to specific factors without further research into specific cancers. Distinguishing true geographic variation from random or chance variation is also a problem given the small numbers of cases involved at county level for most cancers.
Since 1997, significant developments in cancer services have taken place in all regions. The overall additional cumulative funding in cancer services in this country since 1997 is in excess of €550 million including an additional €15 million revenue which has been allocated this year. An additional 104 consultant posts in key areas of cancer treatment and 245 clinical nurse specialists across all health board areas have been funded. There has also been approximately €95 million in capital funding allocated specifically for the development of cancer related initiatives. These include an investment of €60 million in radiation oncology and €11.9 million in BreastCheck.
The investment and appointments in cancer services have resulted in substantial increases in activity levels across the three modalities of care of radiation oncology, medical oncology and surgical oncology. There has been a 36% increase nationally in surgical procedures for breast cancer, with an additional 500 procedures performed in 2002 compared to 1997. Substantial progress is being made in developing radiation oncology. In 2004, an additional €3.5 million is being used to develop the radiation oncology services at the supra regional centres at University College Hospital Galway and Cork University Hospital. The immediate developments in the south and west will result in the provision of an additional five linear accelerators. This represents an increase of approximately 50% in linear accelerator capacity.
The appointment of an additional five consultant radiation oncologists is under way. We have ten consultant radiation oncologists nationally. This will result in a significant increase in the numbers of patients receiving radiation oncology in the short term. Additional funding of €15 million and 130 staff for these centres have been approved recently to develop radiation oncology services regionally.
The national roll-out of the BreastCheck programme to remaining counties is a major priority in the development of cancer services. This will ensure that all women in the 50 to 64 age group throughout the country have access to breast screening and follow up treatment where required. A capital investment of €20 million has been approved to construct and equip two static clinical units, one at South Infirmary Victoria Hospital, Cork and the other at University College Hospital, Galway. This investment will also ensure that mobile units are available to screen women in the relevant age group throughout the country.
