A new service to help prevent cancer developing in people whose families have a history of the disease was launched today (n.b. 29 August) in the province - thanks to funding from leading charity Action Cancer.

The Northern Ireland Cancer Genetics Service will be based at Belfast City Hospital and will be headed by Dr Patrick Morrison, clinical genetics consultant.

The aim is not just to detect cancer in its early stages, but also to detect the signs of cancer before it even begins to develop.

To make the service provincewide, patients will also be seen by doctors at four other hospitals - Altnagelvin, Antrim, Craigavon and the Ulster.

Action Cancer is giving £75,000 to the service for its first year of operation and £100,00 for each of the following two years.

The charity's chief executive, Peter Quigley, said: "We feel that by putting money into the cancer genetics programme we are not only helping the people of Northern Ireland, but also as acting as leverage for the Government to fund a very important project.

"Increasingly, people are aware that they are at risk because of cancer in the family, so they are asking questions. With this programme we will be touching people's lives earlier. We are going to improve the quality of their lives and improve life expectancy.

" Between 5% and 10% of cancers are caused by mutated, or damaged, genes passed on by parents at conception. The most common of these cancers are breast, ovary and bowel.

The service will focus on patients from families with multiple cases of cancer at an early age - as early as 30.

Said Dr Morrison: "If we can find a mutated gene in one member of a family, we can then check everyone in the family who is at risk for that gene change.

"In each of the first two years we will see around 300 patients. Half of them will be liable to get cancer, but we expect that our work will ensure this does not happen in the majority of cases.

"It is difficult to put numbers on it, but there is no doubt that we will be saving lives in the years ahead.

" Patients most at risk will be given genetic tests. The service will also have a comprehensive cancer prevention programme and, where necessary, there will be drug treatment or preventative surgery.

Dr Morrison added that Action Cancer's support was invaluable.

"Without it we really couldn't offer the service. It will also help because we are looking at familial cancers that are a subset of the ordinary cancers. Research on familial cancers may also help us understand why cancers occur in the population without a family history.

"Through the screening and prevention of at-risk groups, we may well get a lot of clues as to why other non-familial cancers occur too."