Ireland's inadequate cytology and cancer treatment services have been blamed for lengthy delays in female cancer patients being diagnosed. The delays have affected a significant number of women, according to a survey of women cancer patients from the Republic and Northern Ireland.
Women experienced delays of four weeks and more from the time they were diagnosed to the time they were treated. A quarter of breast cancer patients and a third (32 per cent) of gynaecological patients experienced such delays, according to the results of the Caring about Women and Cancer survey.
There was a delay between being clinically examined by their doctor to being informed of the diagnosis of four weeks or longer for a quarter (23 per cent) of breast cancer patients and more than four in 10 (41 per cent) women who had gynaecological cancer.
"The delays between being diagnosed and treated reflect the fact that the service is bursting at the seams," the CAWAC vice-chairwoman, Dr Mary Codd, said.
The time-lag between being examined and diagnosed was due to the under-resourced cytology services, she said. However, she was hopeful that the service would be improved with the start of the national cancer screening programmes next year. She was also confident that funding provided under the national cancer strategy was helping address some of the shortfalls in cancer treatment.
The CAWAC report recommends examining the reasons for delays and taking steps to shorten these intervals.
The survey also found that some women were slow in presenting themselves for examination after they had detected the first symptoms. Almost a quarter of women (24 per cent of breast cancer patients and 22 per cent of gynaecological cancer patients) waited for a month or more before attending their doctor.
The survey of 734 women was undertaken as part of the Irish element of a pan-European survey of the opinions of 13,000 women cancer patients from 15 countries, funded by the pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb. The survey covered areas from the pre-diagnosis knowledge of patients about cancer, through diagnosis and treatment, to aftercare.
The results were presented yesterday by the President, Mrs McAleese. "In these days of ever more impressive medical research, state-of-the-art equipment, diagnostic techniques and methods of treatment, it is essential that we never lose sight of the patient, that human being at the centre of all this technology," she said.
Among the findings were that most patients (87 per cent) knew little or nothing about cancer before their diagnosis. However, the vast majority believed the chance of survival was good if the cancer was detected early.
Of the breast cancer patients, two out of three (68 per cent) had carried out some sort of check for cancer before their diagnosis. This took the form of self-examination, a clinical examination or mammography. However, less than half (49 per cent) diagnosed with gynaecological cancer had undertaken screening procedures before their diagnosis.
The majority of women were extremely satisfied or quite satisfied with the information they received about their treatment and the hospital care they received. However, one in four patients was dissatisfied with radiotherapy treatment and a quarter of patients who received chemotherapy found the side-effects were worse than they expected.
After their treatment, most recipients rated themselves at 80 or higher on a health-status scale of 0 to 100.