UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

The Ireland-Northern Ireland-National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium is an innovative partnership between the NCI, the Department of Health and Children in the Republic of Ireland and the Department of Health and Social Services within Northern Ireland. The partnership was a direct consequence of a unique formal intergovernmental memorandum (MOU) of understanding launched in 1999 (http://www.allirelandnci.org/), (http://www.allirelandnci.org/about/mou.pdf).

The goals of the MOU are to facilitate the development of cancer programs in Ireland and Northern Ireland, where cancer is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity. Initial programs for development included: • The enhancement and co-ordination of tumour registries in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. • The enhancement of the informatics infrastructure to support co-ordinated clinical trials throughout the island of Ireland. Within the informatics initiative, attention was focused on the identification of the requirements necessary telecommunication to establish capacity for advanced telecommunications to permit remote co-ordination of clinical trials, especially in the field of radiation oncology.

Additional major goals of the Consortium were established to: • Share best available technology and enhance clinical research • Conduct joint clinical research studies involving people from all jurisdictions • Sponsor formal training exchanges for scholars in cancer programs in partner institutions • The Implement of advanced teleconferencing, including Telesynergy®, and other information technology capabilities to facilitate education and research* • Consolidate the Cancer Registries of Ireland and Northern Ireland and learn more about cancer incidence and trends on the entire island

In this presentation the development pathway for the ‘all-ireland' Telesyenrgy® network will be outlined. The existing and expected future benefits of the system particularly as a critical core enabling technology within the next Cancer Strategy and forthcoming clinical network of supraregional comprehensive cancer centers will be discussed.

* http://telesynergy.nih.gov/

References http://www.allirelandnci.org/publications/459.pdf http://www.allirelandnci.org/publications/453.pdf http://www.allirelandnci.org/publications/385.pdf