The bright but ephemeral life of a rainbow. A chronicle of seventeen years of intensive ESTRO-EU cooperation

Abstract

The QUARTS (Quantification of Radiotherapy Infrastructure and Staffing Needs) Project [1,2] is the last ESTRO-EU Project that was selected for funding by the European Commission. The publication of two papers presenting the results of this project, is probably an appropriate moment for reflecting on the impact that 17 years of ESTRO-EU cooperation and 40 funded projects may have had on the rapid growth and development of a strong European platform for radiotherapy (RT) in Europe: ESTRO. We will try to do this, starting in reverse order. In the opening session of the ESTRO Annual Meeting in Amsterdam in October 2004, we had the privilege to share the experience of a Dutch Minister of Health interacting with radiation oncology professionals to solve a politically very sensitive problem: the growing waiting lists for radiotherapy treatments, allowing curable cancers to turn into life threatening disease. Similar developments had been taking place in the UK where a proud National Health Service (NHS) had seen its cancer outcome figures slip to the level of under-resourced countries as a result of 10 years of underinvestment in RT. The UK government was literally shamed into drastic corrective action. A Belgian clinician had experienced that such a bumpy road could be perfectly avoided by engaging proactively with politicians and health care authorities. He had been feeding them systematically with facts & figures about RT, its role in cancer treatment and the problems the specialty experienced in buckling departmental budgets. This effort had paid off in terms of quality conscious criteria for accreditation of departments, cost covering reimbursement schedules and adequate investment levels for RT. With empathy he observed the bitter struggle of colleagues, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, working almost around the clock with often outdated equipment and competing on an uneven playing field for scarce cancer care resources. Perhaps, he thought, they might benefit from the combined Belgian, UK and Dutch experience. The issue was discussed at the ESTRO Steering Committee and he got a mandate from the ESTRO Board to create a new ‘Strategic Issues’ committee coined at its first meeting at ESTRO 21 in Istanbul ‘Radiotherapy 2000 0. At this meeting a strategy was designed to collect at the European level the information that had been instrumental in turning the tide