Tragic mother’s legacy is she saved other lives

THE tragic case of Edel Kelly, which made national headlines a decade ago, was instrumental in the overhaul of cancer services in hospitals.

Today cancer diagnosis and treatment is concentrated in eight centres around the country.

But at the time of Ms Kelly’s death, breast and other cancer services were still dispersed across many more hospitals where the concentration of expertise was not available.

Patients did not have the access they needed to multidisciplinary teams, made up of various specialists who would examine their case. Smaller regional hospitals were also not exposed to a sufficient volume of cases to maintain optimum skills.

An investigation into services at Ennis hospital was published by the Health Information and Quality Authority arising out of the case of Ms Kelly and another patient, Ann Moriarty.

It found it was unsafe to keep the existing service at the hospital.

International evidence shows patients with certain conditions obtain safer and better outcomes when they are cared for in specialist centres by clinicians who are dealing with high volumes of work, where they can maintain their expertise and provide a full multidisciplinary approach to care.

The reorganisation of cancer care delivery led to controversy and local rows not just in Clare but other counties where people feared the loss of services. Mary Harney, who was minister for health, decided to go ahead with the overhaul.

Prof Tom Keane, a Dublinborn doctor who spent his working life in cancer services in Canada, was instrumental in driving the changes forward, earning him the title of Ireland’s cancer tsar.

But it was Ms Kelly and other women who have left a lasting legacy which has saved lives.