Ms Susan Clyne:

I can quickly respond on the manpower issue and Ms Morrogh will talk specifically about the oncology and cancer manpower services. We know that over 600 GPs are due to retire out of the system in the coming years and there are no supports to help younger GPs to establish themselves. We also know there is a large percentage of consultants who are due to retire. This information is easy to get. The HSE has the data of everybody in the system.

We have failed miserably to attract people to work in the system. That is down to the undervaluing of doctors and other healthcare professional staff within the system and this is known. The healthcare capacity report from 2018 clearly indicates what levels of manpower we need. That is starting from a base of where we have manpower but we are 500 consultants short in the system. That is 20% to 25% of the workforce on any given day that we are short of in the system.

The IMO made a request to the HSE and the Government that specialist registrars, SpRs, who had qualified and finished their training in July of this year would be given a locum post for six months because they cannot travel on to do fellowships. They have not been given those posts. Some are now operating in jobs way below their skill levels and they are not there to deliver much-needed services to patients.