25TH ANNUAL DAFFODIL DAY:The survival rate for people diagnosed with cancer today could be 10 per cent better five years on if well-organised cancer control systems are implemented, Dr Susan O'Reilly, director of the National Cancer Control Programme, said yesterday.
She said Ireland’s rate of survival for ovarian, breast, lung and colorectal cancers lagged behind countries such as Canada, Australia and Sweden.
She said Ireland continuously matched Britain and Northern Ireland. “It’s not worse, but it could be so much better. It needs to be as good as the best-organised systems in Scandinavia, Australia and Canada,” she said.
Dr O’Reilly, who previously worked in British Columbia, said our survival rate, five years on, for ovarian cancer was “trailing badly” behind British Columbia, with a 12 per cent difference between the two. There was a 10 per cent difference between the survival, at five years, for colorectal cancer, a 6 per cent difference for lung cancer, and a 9-10 per cent difference for breast cancer.
Dr O’Reilly said major progress was being made in the provision of cancer care. There was a “revolution in access” with the provision of clinics for symptomatic breast disease. The clinics saw almost 38,000 people last year and just 5.5 per cent were found to have a primary cancer.
Some 1,944 people attended the rapid-access lung-disease clinics last year, and “an astounding 38 per cent were diagnosed with lung cancer”.
The rapid-access prostate clinics saw 2,466 people and found 37.5 per cent had prostate cancer. Some 42,000 people will be referred to the three clinics this year.
Dr O’Reilly was speaking at the launch of Daffodil Day, the Irish Cancer Society’s main fundraising drive, which this year falls on March 23rd and which celebrates its 25th birthday.
It aims to raise €3.5 million to fund its cancer information and nursing services. Demand for the free services has increased substantially in recent years. Last year the charity’s night nurses provided more than 8,000 nights of care, a 13 per cent increase on the previous year.
The freephone helpline also saw an increase in inquiries. The 1800 200700 number received 22,120 calls last year, an increase of more than 900 on 2010 figures.
The society’s chief executive, John McCormack, said the services provided by the society were now more crucial than ever. “Ireland’s cancer rate is one of the highest in the world. One in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetime, and it is estimated that 43,000 new cases will be diagnosed by 2020,” he said.
