Top Doc slams cancer treatment in Australia

One of Australia's top cancer specialists says the standard of treatment for cancer victims in the country leaves a lot to be desired.

Claims by Professor Chris O'Brien that Australia's current mortality rate of 40,000 cancer deaths per year are outrageous carry some clout, as O'Brien himself is a cancer victim.

Professor O'Brien was the high profile director of the Sydney Cancer Centre in 2006 when he was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour and says he makes the criticisms from his own personal standpoint.

Professor O'Brien, a renowned head and neck surgeon, now retired, says it was his own experiences which led him to criticise standards of treatment.

He says Australians should not accept the current mortality rate of 40,000 cancer deaths per year and were they due to motor vehicle accidents, work-related accidents or an infectious disease, there would be an incredible outcry.

Professor O'Brien is calling for a national network of specialist cancer centres with at least one in each state, which would help to combine research and treatment, including alternative therapies, and provide patients with better care - he suggests this would help Australia retain the best doctors in the field.

Professor O'Brien, says Australia's current models of both research and care are frustrating as they hinder research and fail patients, in particular those with rare cancers and are way behind the United States.

Professor O'Brien recently underwent his fourth operation to remove part of the recurrent tumour and says while the prognosis was still 'guarded' he was well.

O'Brien has called for designated, comprehensive cancer centres that combine world-leading research, innovation, clinical care, outreach and educational components and says though steps in that direction had been taken in Melbourne and Sydney, to bring the two closer together, such an environment still does not exist.