Councillor Michael Looney shared his experience in debate on need for nationwide prostate-cancer screening
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Cork councillors have called for a national screening programme for prostate cancer to be rolled out with one elected member telling his colleagues that he was one of the “lucky ones” who was diagnosed in time.
In a motion at this week’s meeting of Cork County Council, Cllr William O’Leary said early detection is the key to fighting the disease and he pointed to the success of other national screening programmes such as the ones for breast and bowel cancer.
“These programmes are well structured, accessible and preventative in nature. They invite people in, they catch disease earlier, and they save lives. This is good public health policy in action. However, when it comes to prostate cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, Ireland still does not have a national screening programme.”
“At present, access to prostate testing is largely GP-led and request-based. A man may speak to his doctor and discuss risk factors in the range of PSA blood tests but there is no automatic national invitation system once men reach a certain age,” the Rathcormac councillor said.
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News in 90 Seconds – Monday, February 16
Cllr O’Leary called for all men aged over 50 to have “clear, structured access to prostate screening through a national programme with proper clinical guidance, proper follow-up pathways and national coordination.”
The motion was widely supported. The Mayor of County Cork, Cllr Mary Linehan Foley, lent her support, saying “men are not great to go and get themselves checked out” while Cllr Marie O’Sullivan urged men “to please go and get your PSA levels done, it’s very important and very necessary for all of you.”
Macroom Councillor Michael Looney recounted his own brush with the disease. “Unfortunately, I’ve been a recipient of prostate cancer myself. I had no symptoms whatsoever and it was just by accident that I got a blood test. So it’s hugely, hugely important to go and get your PSA test done, absolutely from 50 on certainly because I had no symptoms whatsoever and I was just one of the lucky ones,” he said.
The council agreed to write to the health minister and the HSE calling for the establishment of a national screening programme for prostate cancer. “It’s a simple blood test. The sooner we put on a national screening program the better. Early detection and preventative measures in terms of this type of cancer are the way forward,” Cllr O’Leary said.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.