Dr Helen Greally, Director of Psychology and Support Services, Cancer Care West Galway, has been awarded the Noemi Fisman Award for Lifetime Clinical Excellence by the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS ).
Dr Greally, originally from Clare but now living in Galway, is the first Irish person to be acknowledged by IPOS in their annual awards, inaugurated in 2003. This honour will be presented to Dr. Greally at the 25th Annual IPOS World Congress in Maastricht, The Netherlands, September 24-27 2024.
In her 40-year career to date, Dr Greally has created and delivered psychological and psychosocial support services for hundreds of patients and their families and influenced national policy to ensure excellent clinical services across Ireland.
She has also played a key role in developing an integrated patient pathway, so that when cancer patients complete active medical treatment they can access further help if they need it at their local cancer support centre. Cancer Care West support centres in Galway and Letterkenny are very good examples of this model in action, where there are close links between the charity and the local hospitals.
Throughout her career, she has advocated strenuously for psychological services to be included in a holistic approach to cancer care, believing that this is critical to a patient’s ability to survive and thrive. She has also consistently sought to extend counselling and support services to the families of those with cancer, witnessing first-hand the trauma the diagnosis and treatment brings into each family it touches.
Dr Greally is also the National Clinical Programme Lead for Psycho-Oncology at the National Cancer Control Programme. This is a Directorate within the Health Service Executive (HSE ) that works with health service providers and other partners to prevent and treat cancer as well as increase survival and quality of life for those who develop cancer.
In particular, the NCCP is responsible for the implementation of the majority of the recommendations of the National Cancer Strategies. Through her role in the NCCP, Dr Greally was instrumental in securing funding for 44 psycho-oncology posts in psychology, psychiatry, social work, and nursing, hence building up the psycho-oncology workforce and capacity throughout the country.
