Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

My colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, has clearly set out the significant commitment of this Government and the HSE to cancer control as evidenced by today's announcement of the appointment of Professor Keane to lead the establishment of the national cancer control programme and the designation of managed cancer control networks and cancer centres.

There have already been significant developments in dealing with cancer that have benefited patients throughout the country. These are based on a clear strategy for cancer control and substantial additional investments across the continuum of cancer including prevention, screening, treatment and supportive and palliative care.

Cancer survival is improving in Ireland for all of the major cancers. The National Cancer Registry compared cancer survival data between 1995 and 1997 with data between 1998 and 2000. Our overall relative survival from cancer increased from 48% to 50% for women and 38% to 44% for men. According to the registry these increases are statistically significant. For women, there were increases in survival in the four commonest cancers, namely breast, lung, colorectal and lymphoma. For men, survival improved for almost all cancers.

This Government is not complacent in respect of its successes in this area. The National Cancer Registry predicts that cancer numbers in Ireland will have increased from 22,000 a year at present to 43,000 by 2020. The numbers of potentially fatal cancers will more than double, from 13,800 to 28,800, in the same period. About two thirds of this increase is expected to be due to the increasing number of elderly people in the population, and the remainder to upward trends in the incidence of some of the common cancers. This anticipated increase in cancer numbers will place a major additional burden on cancer services and must be considered in current planning for cancer control. The Government is committed to significant additional investment based on the reform programme being implemented by the HSE.

There has been a transformation in the range and capacity of cancer services since 1996 based on a sustained increase in cancer funding. Since 1997, approximately €1 billion has been invested in cancer services nationally and more than 100 additional consultants and 360 additional clinical nurse specialists have been appointed in key areas of cancer care. More than 96,000 patients — inpatients and day patients — were discharged from hospital following a diagnosis of cancer in 2006, an increase of 75% over 1997. More than 60,000 people were treated for cancer as day cases in 2006, an increase of 140% over 1997. Additional revenue funding of €20.5 million has been allocated in 2007 for cancer control, an increase of 74% on the comparable 2006 investment.

BreastCheck screened 64,000 women in 2006, an increase of 7% over 2005. I allocated additional revenue funding of €8 million to BreastCheck this year to meet the costs of national roll-out, bringing BreastCheck's revenue budget to €21.7 million in 2007. BreastCheck will be rolled out nationally from next month.

The Irish cervical cancer screening programme will commence national roll-out in January 2008. Additional revenue funding of €5 million has been allocated this year for this purpose and an additional 30 posts have been approved. Approximately 230,000 women will be screened annually based on an 80% take up. Women aged 25 to 44 will be screened every three years and women aged 45 to 60 every five years.

Patients in Ireland are benefiting from the development of a clinical trials network across the country. Between 2002 and 2008 the health research board will have invested more than €21 million to support this initiative. The number of staff involved in cancer clinical trials has risen from five when the initiative started to 105 today. The Irish clinical oncology research group recruited the 2000th patient during 2006. The group expects to recruit 600 patients in 2007 rising to 1000 per year by 2009.

The National Development Programme 2007-2013 includes major investment in the implementation of the national cancer control strategy. A sum of €415 million is provided for the implementation of the national plan for radiation oncology, mainly by public private partnership.

By any standards these are substantial achievements that have benefited and will continue to benefit cancer patients and their families. We recognise that a cancer diagnosis is a traumatic event for patients and their families. Our health system needs to continue to expand and develop the services to meet the clinical, social and supportive needs of this community. We have significant opportunities now to cure cancer and to ensure that patients with cancer survive longer with improved quality of life.

Considerable progress is being made in implementing the national plan for radiation oncology which has been supported by substantial additional investment. We are already seeing the return on the substantial investments in Cork and Galway. In Cork University Hospital more than 2,000 new patients were treated over the four linear accelerators in 2006, constituting more than 35,000 treatments. This was an increase of almost 5,800 treatments over 2005. The waiting time for patients to receive treatment has halved from eight to ten weeks to three to four weeks.

In University College Hospital Galway, almost 1,000 patients were treated in 2006. The number of treatments increased from 11,300 in 2005 to 18,500 in 2006. The hospital expects treatments provided to increase by 7% this year over last year. The main developments to date include the procurement of additional capacity, namely two linear accelerators for St. Luke's Hospital, Rathgar. These linear accelerators will be commissioned in February and March 2008 and two replacement linear accelerators will be commissioned in August and September 2008.

Interim facilities have been provided at Beaumont and St. James's Hospital. The contract for the design consultants has commenced and the evaluation process for procurement of the supply contract is also under way. A technical subgroup is preparing the equipping specification for the phase 1 developments. The HSE has appointed a project director and project board for the plan. A project team was also established comprising representatives from the HSE and the National Development Finance Agency. The team meets twice monthly and is progressing all procurement and planning issues. Four leading international experts have validated the population needs assessments, technical specifications, process mapping and other outputs.

Patients are being referred to the radiation centre at Limerick Regional Hospital. The HSE is working with Limerick Regional Hospital to ensure its service delivery is integrated with the radiation oncology department at University College Hospital, Galway. This is an important element of the implementation of the national plan for radiation oncology.

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