Professor Riste?rd ? Laoide:

That is a very broad question because the cancer strategy is all about improving survival rates for people who suffer from cancer. Dr. McCarthy will come in at some stage to give the committee the data in that respect, as required. The overall aim of the cancer strategy is to improve the survival rate for all patients in Ireland, including those in the west. There is an ageing population in the west of Ireland. I have had plenty of discussions on this issue with Professor Michael Kerin, who is the cancer lead in respect of the poor outcomes in Galway. The NCCP is continuing to invest in care in the west of Ireland to improve those rates. There are major issues around infrastructure, which are very important. Radiation oncology is one element of that and I was delighted to see that building being opened. It is now working well and we can see improvement in the key performance indicators, KPIs, for radiation oncology in the west of Ireland as a result of the opening of the centre. There is, however, an overall infrastructural issue for the country as a whole and that is something we need to address. I heard the previous witnesses mention things such as Covid-19, the stress that put on cancer services and the necessity to segregate acute cancer care from the kind of care required in an epidemic. We need to separate the latter forms of care.

We have at the moment a lot of applications around the infrastructure that needs to be improved. Some of those are done. The Beaumont Hospital national programme for radiation oncology, NPRO, project will be starting. We have aseptic compounding units, ACUs, daycare wards and many projects and developments around the country, including in Galway. As national director of the NCCP, I believe we need a national co-ordinated strategy to develop appropriate infrastructure for cancer services into the future. That needs to be done on the basis of population and it must be driven by data. The new regions are going to help in that regard. We should look at each region individually, including the regions managed by the Saolta group, and see what is needed for cancer care, assess the deficits and put a plan in place. It needs to be done within an overall structure. Infrastructure is just one element.