Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

An information line has been put in place and people affected by the review can make contact with the HSE directly. The number is 1850 241850. In patients' interests and in keeping with the lessons learned from previous reviews, neither the HSE nor the Department will report any further on specific details of the reviews until they have concluded.

I agree with Deputies that it is vitally important we ensure the delivery of best cancer care for all cancer patients. This is the reason this Government is totally committed to implementing the HSE national cancer control programme. The programme will offer equal access to all patients to the expertise of cancer specialists working together in major centres serving large numbers of patients. The designation of cancer centres aims to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care while at the same time allowing local access to services, where appropriate.

It is also important people are fully aware that where diagnosis and treatment planning are directed and managed by multi-disciplinary teams based at the cancer centres, much of the treatment, other than surgery, can be delivered in local hospitals. Chemotherapy and other aspects of follow up care will be carried out at local hospitals. This will involve significant realignment of cancer services to move from the present fragmented system of care to one that is consistent with international best practice in cancer control.

It is time to recognise that we cannot achieve high standards for cancer services by trying to provide a full range of services in centres that do not provide multi-disciplinary care and have very low volumes of patients. With the implementation of the national cancer control programme we are moving towards a more equitable system that can produce better outcomes than the existing system.

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