Northern Ireland faces 'cancer epidemic' without strategy - study

Northern Ireland is facing a "cancer epidemic" if an effective strategy is not implemented, it has been warned.

A study has found that Northern Ireland is at the bottom of an international league table for cancer plans and policies.

Prof Mark Lawler said outcomes for breast cancer patients have gone from the best in the UK to the worst in the last decade.

The report's authors have called for reforms of cancer services.

Prof Lawler, from Queen's University, is a senior author of the report which has been published in the medical journal Lancet Oncology.

The study looked at the relationship between consistency of cancer policy and improvements in five-year survival for seven cancers in 10 countries or jurisdictions across the world.

The authors found a correlation between consistent cancer control policies and better five-year survival for cancer patients over time.

The Financial Times reported that the research shows the UK as a whole lagged behind other counties when it comes to cancer survival rates.

But, speaking to Good Morning Ulster on Wednesday, Prof Lawler said "Northern Ireland was bottom of the league table in relation to consistent cancer control policies and their relation to outcomes".

He said that the health service in Northern Ireland has only implemented one cancer strategy in the last 20 years but that this was effective.

"Ten years ago I would have been presenting on this and talking about Northern Ireland, for example, having the best outcomes for breast cancer in the United Kingdom," Prof Lawler added.

He described the findings of the report as "very disappointing" and said authorities are failing cancer patients.

Prof Lawler said: "We've had a vacuum in relation to policy, in relation to investment and that has led to significant challenges for our health system."

There is an existing cancer strategy "sitting on the shelf", Prof Lawler said, but it has not been financed or implemented.

"We can do it, but we need to do it now. If we don't do it now, we're going to have a cancer epidemic that's going to follow us in Northern Ireland and that's just not good enough," he added.

The Department of Health said it "fully agrees" with Prof Lawler on the importance of having the necessary funding in place to implement the cancer strategy.

In March, the then-health minister Robin Swann announced a new 10-year cancer strategy with an estimated initial investment of £2.3m for the first year.

A department spokesperson added: "The former minister also approved new governance structures that would provide strategic direction, oversight and ensure effective decision making to support implementation of the cancer strategy.

"However, in the absence of an agreed multi-year budget for health and a significant projected overspend for the year, the ability to strategically plan beyond 2022/23 is extremely challenging."