Ms Averil Power:

It is money and needing to make sure that there is downstream capacity, so if one is going to identify people through screening, they can then get access to services that they need after that in a timely fashion. That is a big issue. The other area we would like to flag would be genetic services. I know it is mentioned in the HSE statement about the national hereditary cancer strategy. That is positive. It is important that there is a national lead for genetics. What we have not seen yet is sufficient investment and posts to tackle the massive waiting lists for genetic tests, counselling and preventative surgery. It is incredibly distressing to be told that you have a massive lifetime risk of breast cancer as a result of the BRCA gene or ovarian cancer but that the service cannot give you the preventative surgery to be able to reduce that. It is at all stages. It is about investing in screening to pick up early stage cancers and, in the case of CervicalCheck, pre-cancers, and then also making sure that there is follow-through and that people are getting timely access to the treatment that they need after that.

If there is one point that we really want to drive home, it is that strategies and policy are important. As far as we are concerned, the national cancer strategy is an excellent document. If it was delivered, it would make a significant difference and save thousands of lives in the year to come, but strategy is nothing without investment. Many of the positive actions that have been put in place in recent years are around things like policies, frameworks, and national lead positions.

There is now a research group which is brilliant, bringing together some of the best research minds in the country to look at what needs to happen, but as of yet there is not sufficient budget behind all those initiatives to make sure that those leaders can deliver and provide better outcomes for patients. What is needed is the budget.