Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
Challenges Facing Community-based Cancer Support Services: Discussion
Annie Hoey (Labour)
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I thank everyone for their presentations and all the work they do. As someone whose family availed of community-based supports, including myself, the work they do to support people is not unrecognised. I do not have many questions, but I am very interested in listening. Ms Fort spoke about people coming in a little bit later on or after their treatment. Would many people approach for support a couple of years after they have been diagnosed, either because the cancer journey can be quite long or maybe their journey has ended and they are in remission? Would anyone come to the community cancer centres for support? I am interested to hear, as I am a big believer in screening. Obviously, we have got some great uptake. I believe our we are third in the EU for breast cancer. We have quite a high uptake in screening. I would like to see screening rolled out in other areas as well, particularly for lung cancer, because were we screening for it, my dad would still be here. Would the witnesses have any thoughts on that or is that something that comes up, even in conversation? Obviously, the witnesses are at the coalface and maybe people are not hypothesising about what services could or should be. I wonder whether that is something that comes up, that there is an awareness that there could be additional screening for certain kinds of cancers, but that we just not have them here yet. Does that ever come up in conversations the witnesses have with people?