St James’s Hospital is a centre of excellence in the management of head and neck cancers. It accepts referrals from all 26 counties, including larger centres such as Cork and Galway. We are a dedicated team comprising doctors, nurses, speech and language therapists, dieticians, social workers and physiotherapists, who work to provide you with the support and specialist care you need when dealing with something as traumatic as a cancer diagnosis. Here are some statistics from our head and neck data manager, Mary Devlin:
Cancer can develop in any tissue or organ in your head and neck. As they grow, cancer cells can affect how the organ or tissue normally works. The areas where these cancers can develop are:
The aim of treatment is to stop any spread of cancer and, if possible, to remove all the cancer from your body.
Treatments for head and neck cancer are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. They may be used on their own or together.
New Patient Appointments: New patients requiring appointments must submit a referral from their GP/ consultant. New referrals are prioritised by a consultant surgeon and an appropriate appointment will be scheduled for the patient. Patients will be notified of their appointment date by post or by telephone.
Referral Procedure
Referrals are to be made by letter in the case of a suspected head and neck cancer the St James Hospital referral form for suspected mouth, head and neck cancer should be sent.
Electronic referrals can also be made via Healthlink.
Annemarie Farrelly, Head and Neck Cancer Nurse Coordinator
Phone: (01) 416 2187
Email: afarrelly@stjames.ie
Joanne Mac Donagh (Head and Neck Cancer Nurse Coordinator)
Phone: (01) 4284801
Email: jmacdonagh@stjames.ie
Irish Cancer Society: www.cancer.ie
Freephone: 1800 200 700
Resource centre located on ground floor of the main hospital near Private 1 ward.
Arc Cancer Support: www.arccancersupport.ie
Phone: (01) 830 7333 (Eccles Street) or (01) 707 8880 (South Circular Road)
Your own GP will have a list of cancer support services available in your area.
Charlotte had tongue cancer and required near-total removal of her tongue, radiotherapy and chemo therapy as treatment.