Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to speak on this motion. More than 9,000 people die from cancer every year in Ireland. Therefore, urgent action is needed to ensure that the national cancer strategy meets its targets of being in the top quarter for five-year survival rates among EU states.

There are major backlogs in cancer screening and treatment in Ireland due to Covid-19. The HSE has advised that the CervicalCheck screening service resumed on 20 July and that bowel screening services resumed at the beginning of August 2020. However, for many women, BreastCheck has yet to resume. The HSE has indicated that the service is expected to resume later this month, September, or next month. That is simply not good enough. Will the service be able to catch up on the cervical screening? It appears highly unlikely that the service will fully catch up in respect of the BreastCheck and bowel check programmes.

I and my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group are calling on the Government for an urgent and comprehensive audit of each cancer service in the country to be undertaken immediately to, first, determine capacity levels; second, target additional capacity to areas which require it; and, three, ensure that additional financial resources required are correctly ring-fenced and targeted to ensure value for money and the benefit of cancer patients.

Governments should not use Covid-19 as an excuse for slippage in the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. These capacity issues were apparent before Covid-19. Now, additional financial resources will be needed just to tread water. This is an enormous challenge that requires an ambitious and immediate response from Government.

Another major concern I have for the people of Cork South-West is the reason we cannot have a full BreastCheck clinic in Bantry General Hospital, which, I may add, is a hospital of excellence. This hospital has the capability of looking after tens of thousands of people. While I have the floor I again ask the Minister of State who is now in the Chamber - the Minister was here earlier - to have the HSE appoint a full-time anaesthetist for Bantry General Hospital, something for which I have called time and again and which was promised by Fianna Fáil in writing to the people of Cork South West. My worry is that I am not getting answers to date and that this is all falling on deaf ears. A full-time anaesthetist for Bantry General Hospital is required immediately.

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