The first national review of support services for the 20,000 people who are given a cancer diagnosis in the State each year has highlighted serious inadequacies.
It reveals formal support services provided for cancer patients by the health sector are inadequate. In hospitals they are described as "haphazard and unstructured". Some patients, it points out, do not even have the opportunity of being treated by cancer specialists, which it says, adds to patient distress.
The report also refers to the "uncontrolled" provision of complementary and alternative cancer therapies. "Lack of psychosocial support has led patients to seek support from other sources, including independent counsellors, some of whom have very limited or no links with the health service; this provision of counselling is uncontrolled.
"Complementary and alternative therapies used in conjunction with conventional medical care can help to improve quality of life and are used by many patients.
"Unproven remedies that have no scientific basis are also being used. They are usually provided by unqualified persons who sometimes claim to cure cancer. Such remedies can be dangerous and have no place in cancer treatment," the report adds.
The review, carried out by the Eastern Health Board's department of public health on behalf of the Department of Health, recommends all therapists providing complementary cancer therapies should be registered and accredited by a professional organisation.
Among other key recommendations made by the review group, which had representatives from the Irish Cancer Society, St Luke's Hospital and others, was that every patient should have access to a cancer specialist for diagnosis and treatment.
"A diagnosis of cancer can have an immense negative psychological impact on patients and families. Many people have difficulty in coming to terms with the illness and in living with cancer. At least 25 per cent of patients develop depression and anxiety.
"This may lead to poor quality of life and contribute to reduced life expectancy. The prevention and management of psychological ill health due to cancer must therefore be an essential element of cancer treatment," said the review group's chairperson, Dr Marie Laffoy, a specialist in public health medicine with the EHB.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death, claiming 7,500 lives in the State every year.
In a separate report on haematology services in the State presented to the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, yesterday, Comhairle na nOspideal, which regulates the number and type of consultant appointments in public hospitals in Ireland, recommends a trebling of consultant haematologist posts outside of Dublin to 22 and a doubling of posts in the Dublin hospitals to 17.