Ms Averil Power:

We run awareness campaigns all the time to make people aware of the signs and symptoms of cancer and to encourage them to seek help. We then face a challenge when we receive a call to our support line and a person tells us they have a worrying symptom, but they cannot afford to go to a GP. We have run research that states that two in five people have put off going to a GP with cancer symptoms because they could not afford to do so. People also call us to say their GP has referred them for a test, but they are still waiting, they do not know what is happening and they cannot afford to go into private healthcare.

Regarding investment, it is really important that NCCP, us in the Irish Cancer Society and others do everything possible to make people aware of cancer symptoms so they can get investigated, but we also need to make sure that once they take that step and reach out, they are seen within the appropriate timeframes, with no exceptions, regardless of whether they are in public or private healthcare.