i can issue 4

Opportunities ahead

Professor Patrick G Johnston

Cancer is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in Northern Ireland, which has one of the highest incidences and mortality rates for cancer in the western world. Currently there are approximately 8,800 new cases of cancer diagnosed every year and about 3,800 patients die from the disease here.

Over the last four years there has been a major restructuring in cancer service development in Northern Ireland as a result of the Campbell report. This followed along the lines of the Calman–Hine report on services in England and Wales. The core developments were the creation of a Cancer Centre/unit model for the province, the creation of multidisciplinary teams, the development of a patient-centred service, the promotion of best practice in creating uniformity of standards, and the development of clinical networks.

The goals of this new service are to co-ordinate cancer treatment, prevention, screening, education, training and research programmes throughout Northern Ireland to provide a high-quality patient-centred service.

Several major aspects of the programme have now been implemented, including the opening of the cancer units. The new Cancer Centre building at Belfast City Hospital is now taking shape and is expected to open at the end of 2005. The Centre is at the core of the developments envisaged by the Campbell report. Multidisciplinary specialist teams have already been created for all major disease subsites in each of the cancer units and the Cancer Centre, and integrated patient care pathways are currently being developed.

As part of the reorganisation of cancer services we have developed a unique partnership with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA through the development of the NCI All-Ireland Cancer Consortium. Established in 1999, this links the health department in Northern Ireland with the US Department of Health and Human Services in an effort to develop combined programmes. At the core of this vision was the desire to radically change the state of cancer in Northern Ireland and to access leading-edge opinion and technology in developing high-quality programmes for the future.

There have also been collaborations in the development of leading-edge technology – such as the development of linked clinical trials systems and telesynergy. This provides real-time telecommunications and information technology platforms that will significantly increase our ability to work together – not only in clinical trials, but also in other important areas.

Through the creation of a cancer programme organised to deliver continued improvements in care, we expect cancer patients in Northern Ireland to receive care that will eventually lead to outcomes that are among the best in Europe.

Patrick G Johnston
Head of Department of Oncology and Director of the Cancer Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast; Belfast City Hospital