"Caught In A Postcode Lottery": Kilcullen Cancer Survivor Shares Story Of Old Radiotherapy Machines Affecting Access To Care

It comes as The Irish Cancer Society have warned of major regional inequalities in timely cancer treatment across the country.

Stark contrasts between cancer treatment across the country have become evident following figures released by the Irish Cancer Society.

It comes as they have warned of major regional inequalities in timely cancer treatment across the country.

They have demanded investment in radiotherapy machines and infrastructure to improve access as part of their pre-budget submission.

Their submission highlighted that the 15-day target for patient access to treatment was 67.3pc for St Lukes, St James and Beaumont hospital in Dublin.

This is contrasted by 82.6pc in the north west, 83.7pc in Limerick, 89.3pc in Galway, 91.3pc in Cork and 97.9pc in Waterford.

Speaking on Kildare Today, Kilcullen resident and cervical cancer survivor, Aoife Habenicht, spoke of how her appointments had been cancelled, often due to old machines:

"I started into 25 sessions of radiotherapy in St Luke's in Rathgar. Of my 25 sessions, six were delayed because of machinery breakdown and you don't question it when you go through treatment because you haven't really done it before, it was only afterwards that I wondered about the delays.

It turned out that my Linac, the machine that give you the treatment, it's still in use now and its actually 18-years-old globally they give these machines a best before date of 10 years."

She outlined how the situation is having a "detrimental" effect across the board:

"We've 25 of these machines in Ireland, eight of them are actually over 15-years-old, it's really having a detrimental effect.

Ms Habenicht also described the treatment of 25 sessions as "a part-time job".

"I went into it with a mindset of it being a part-time job, I was trying to keep my children unimpacted by it all, I wanted to do creche drop-offs and make the dinner, and those were the things that suffered."

"You're caught in a postcode lottery, if you do happen to be assigned to one of the hospitals with one of the eight machines that are over 15 years old, that's not fair. It shouldn't be that your address determines what kind of care you receive, no one should have to worry about if the machinery is fit for purpose."

"In order for them to be completely accurate, the patient has to get tattoos that serve as a guide for the machine, I have a daily reminder when I see my tattoos, if i had been on a newer machine, those tattoos wouldn't have been necessary, that could be avoided as well."

As she reflects on the completion of her treatment, she is now in good health and is happy to have the experience put behind her.

"Thankfully I am absolutely perfect, some days I feel as though nothing ever happened."

The full interview can be heard below: