Ireland is near the bottom of the European mortality league table, writes DrMuiris Houston
For years cancer patients in the Republic have been denied full and fair access to radiotherapy. As a result, we are 13th in a league table of cancer mortality rates among 15 European states.
The Hollywood Group has not attempted to hide the parlous state of radiation oncology here. With just two centres and a small number of linear accelerators (the machines for giving therapy) it is no wonder that many cancer patients miss out on an essential component of modern treatment.
Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are used in varying combinations and sequences in the treatment of cancer. It has been shown that patients who avail of all appropriate treatment modalities within an accepted timeframe have a much better chance of surviving cancer.
The review group had set out guidelines for those who will make the politically sensitive decision as to where to locate new supra-regional cancer centres.
"The group believes that this will require a detailed and sensitive analysis of existing public treatment facilities and the potential resources of specific hospital sites, the existing stage of development of oncology services at individual hospitals . . . and issues of patient access," the report said.
This was the backdrop to yesterday's meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee in Leinster House. It had lined up six prominent medical experts to comment on the Hollywood Group recommendations.
Although political disagreements are part and parcel of a politician's life, those present must have been taken aback at the open disagreement evident among the cancer experts sitting before them.
Of course, medical differences of opinion are couched in more deferential terms than political ones. But behind the veneer of collegiality, points are made with scalpel-like precision.
Essentially the doctors disagreed on two main issues: peripherality and equity of access. The trio lined up behind the Hollywood report argued that centres of excellence improve survival for cancer patients by at least 20 per cent.
Those on the other side claimed patients deserve local treatment at a vulnerable time in their lives in order to ensure equity.
The level of disagreement among the experts does not augur well for efforts to achieve wider reforms in the health service.