Ireland must create ‘slightly redundant’ oncology posts if research work and clinical trials here are to be comparable internationally, the Associate Director of the National Cancer Research Network in the UK told the sixth International Cancer Conference in Dublin last week.
Prof Richard Kaplan said that Ireland was too small to efficiently balance the clinical duties and research interests of oncologists. “If there are only one or two oncologists in an area who have to deliver care, how can they be released for research? The only way forward is more consultant slots,” he said. The posts may need to be ‘slightly redundant’ if Ireland is going to be a leader in clinical research, he added.
Prof Kaplan is the Professor of Clinical Cancer Studies at the University of Leeds and was formerly Chief of the Clinical Investigations Branch of the National Cancer Institute in the United States.
About Gary Culliton
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