Women in Donegal are choosing to have full mastectomies, instead of having breast cancer lumps removed, because of the lack of radiotherapy services, it is claimed.
Cancer patients in the county currently have to travel to Dublin for radiotherapy, and were being "left out" of the national strategy for the development of radiotherapy services, a new patients' group has said.
The Government-commissioned Hollywood Report on the future of radiotherapy treatment recommends that Donegal patients are served by facilities in Northern Ireland.
However, according to Donegal Action for Cancer Care, a patients' group launched yesterday, the existing radiotherapy centre in Belfast has said it does not have the capacity for any extra patients, and no other provision has been put in place.
"It's more than five hours by car from Donegal to Dublin. If you're getting the bus you have to get to Derry first, and then get the bus down. It's absolutely unworkable for most people," a group spokeswoman said.
Women who have had a lumpectomy in Letterkenny hospital require follow-on radiotherapy treatment in Dublin on a daily basis, usually for five weeks.
The spokeswoman said many women were choosing to have mastectomies and forego radiotherapy as they could not leave their families for the time needed.
"Women are given the choice; have the lumpectomy, which requires radiotherapy, or just the mastectomy. The reality is that women, especially those with young children, are choosing to lose their whole breast."
The group is calling for the immediate appointment of a radiation oncologist to Letterkenny hospital, and a commitment to the development of a satellite radiotherapy clinic for the area.
"We want the Government to understand that Donegal people refuse to be treated as second-class citizens when it comes to cancer care."
Public meetings will be held throughout Donegal towns, beginning next week in Buncrana, to develop the campaign.
