Ms Averil Power:

The frustrating thing from our point of view is that when we presented to this committee on the national cancer strategy in 2019, one of the specific areas we highlighted was radiation therapy. At that time, two out of ten people were not being seen within the targeted timeframe. It is now four out of ten. We are frustrated that things have been allowed to get worse and that the training issue has not been addressed. We wrote again recently to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on this, urging him to examine the long-term supply of radiation therapists and whether there are other ways of expediting delivery. The visa issue that Professor Kennedy hit on is also crucial.