One cancer diagnosis is made here every three minutes

IRELAND now records a new case of cancer every three minutes, and half of all people here will face such a diagnosis during their lifetime by the year 2025.

While major breakthroughs have been made in terms of the treatment of some cancers, other factors mean that a greater number of people will now be detected and treated for various forms of cancers.

Bon Secours Cork general manager Harry Canning told the National Oncology Conference in Cork that Irish hospitals face a major challenge given the rapidly ageing population, increased life expectancy rates and the dramatic population expansion predicted for Ireland over the next quarter century. The population of Munster is set to expand by 60pc by 2040.

Major new acute hospitals are planned for Cork, Dublin and Galway – although the sites for these have yet to be specified. The hospitals, along with new elective hospitals, are being developed as part of the Ireland 2040 plan unveiled by the Government last week.

Care

The Cork oncology conference is being attended by experts from across Ireland, the UK and the US and is focused on developments in cancer care.

“We are building additional theatre capacity, we are also putting an extra 80 beds in the hospital so we will be putting in place the capacity to meet future population growth in the region,” Mr Canning said.

“But we also need to be looking at how we are treating patients and treating them in an efficient manner that will allow us to maximise the available capacity. That is a constant challenge for all hospitals in Ireland.”

Cancer treatment in Ireland was effectively revolutionised by the restructuring of oncology resources 15 years ago and the roll-out of ‘centres of excellence’ for cancer treatment.

Mr Canning said there had been major progress in terms of the treatment of specific cancers.

“There have been huge advances in cancer treatment across all the types of cancer that we see here in the Bons over the last number of years,” he said. “It is fantastic – we see patients doing much better. The outcomes are better and the prognosis in many cases is much better.”