Professor Risteárd Ó Laoide:

I thank Deputy Burke for that question. He raised an important point because I believe it is acknowledged overall that medical oncology staffing in Ireland is not up to the levels of optimally performing countries. As he said, 26 cancer nurses were employed during the Covid-19 pandemic. These were employed specifically to ensure patients avoided the emergency department in what was an uncertain environment in the hospitals. They have proven exceedingly valuable because they work with the patients in the community and liaise with the GP, and really, direct patients away from the hospital and deal with any acute problems that arise from them.

Obviously, we have received a significant amount of funding this year, as I outlined in my opening statement. That will allow us to plan for additional posts in the systemic anti-cancer therapy section of the NCCP. We are hoping a further 40 positions will be recruited in 2021 to allow us to increase our staffing, which would be an overall increase of approximately 66 staff. That will therefore be a significant upgrade. That is particularly required in our oncology day wards and also to help the emergency department and acute oncology nursing staff.