Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is probably opportune that the Minister of State is taking this himself because of his own personal interest in this topic as a smoker.

We have to acknowledge the different rates for those with lung cancer and I think stigma is an issue. While there are common denominators for all cancers, we know lung cancer is predominantly linked with smoking, in spite of the fact that 20% of those with lung cancer have never smoked. The stigma is also reflected in a survey which showed that 30% of those surveyed thought that non-smokers should have preferential treatment for lung cancer over smokers. Is stigma preventing people from presenting earlier, especially in lower socioeconomic areas? It is very serious because we know how vital early intervention is.

Lung cancer needs to figure more prominently in the Healthy Ireland strategy. There will be a cancer patient advisory committee and expressions of interest for membership had to be in by 19 October. It is important that all cancers are represented there. I hope that tackling stigma and early intervention would be part of the work of the committee.

I have previously raised the issue of the heavy workload and pressure on nursing staff in the oncology wards in hospitals in Dublin with nurses, some still in their training years with no oncology treatment training, administering the medicines. We have a national cancer strategy, so how will the steps to increase the number of lung cancer specialist nurses be implemented?

We also need a patient advocacy group for lung cancer. We need more of the "I am lung cancer" campaigns. We know that BreastCheck has been effective. We also need a lung check campaign. The social inequalities associated with lung cancer could be looked at by the cancer patient advisory committee.

We need to look at the cancer strategy with a checklist on the recommendations and the timeline. We also need to take into account the facts about lung cancer which indicate that it needs more attention and work. In his reply, the Minister of State said that 87% of patients referred to the clinics have been seen within ten days but we do not know what that is 87% of, or to what that translates in numbers.

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