Dr Denis McCauley, GP spokesman for the Irish Medical Organisation said he knew of some symptomatic cancer patients who had to travel across the Border for initial assessment. Dr McCauley said: “It goes without saying the earlier a breast cancer is diagnosed the better. Attendances at rapid access prostate clinics over the same period went down from 2,962 in 2019 to 1,983 in 2020. Over the same nine months the number of patients referred to the symptomatic breast cancer clinics by GPs rose to 27,658 this year compared to 26,001 in 2019. He added: “Ninety-five per cent capacity will not be enough to swiftly clear these backlogs, and I would worry that cancer patients might die as a result of this.

Source: Irish Independent November 28, 2020 02:37 UTC