David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: recalls that the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026, the third such strategy, was launched in 2017 with a then-estimated cost of €140 million additional current expenditure by 2026;

notes that:

— the Government has only properly funded the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 in two of the last five years and has not revised the funding requirements in light of inflation, unpredicted demographic changes, or the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic;

— only one of the 23 objectives of the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 has been met according to the latest progress report; and

— according to the European Cancer Inequalities Registry, Ireland has the second highest rate of cancer incidence in Europe and is ranked mid-table of the 27 European Union member states for cancer survival, and performs poorly in comparison to western European peers in terms of uptake of cancer screening programmes;

further notes:

— remarks made to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health on 10th April, 2024, by the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Cancer Society, Ms Averil Power, that:

— "Inadequate Government funding and the impact of Covid-19 on cancer diagnosis and treatment means that we are no longer confident that will be the case. In fact, we are concerned that Ireland's cancer outcomes may have stagnated or even disimproved since the strategy was published";

— "In some areas, things have significantly disimproved since 2017. Waiting times for radiotherapy have increased, with expensive equipment lying idle in several hospitals due to an ongoing shortage of radiation therapists. Inequality between public and private patients is growing, particularly in terms of access to new medicines"; and

— "Our key recommendation to the committee today is a call for multiannual funding. One cannot plan for workforce, for capital or for anything properly without multi-annual funding"; and

— remarks made to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health on 10th April, 2024, by the Chair of the National Cancer Strategy Steering Group, Professor John M. Kennedy, when asked why life-saving equipment was left lying idle due to the shortage of radiation therapists, that:

— "The basic answer is we are not training enough of them because we have not reacted to the increased requirement over the past several years. That is true in many areas of infrastructure in the health system. It is the predominant reason"; and

— "Owing to the difficulties we have with unscheduled care, by which I mean sick people coming to the ED, time-critical surgeries are continually delayed because we cannot get patients into the hospital for them ... because the hospital was overwhelmed by urgent care"; and

— responses given to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health on 10th April, 2024, by the National Director of the National Cancer Control Programme, Professor Risteárd Ó Laoide, confirming that the Health Service Executive sought €20 million in funding for the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 in 2024 but "did not get anything for 2024";

considers that the failure to properly fund the strategy, to properly plan and grow the workforce, and to resolve hospital overcrowding are the consequences of conscious political decisions made by this and previous Governments;

condemns the Taoiseach, Simon Harris TD, for his failure as the Minister for Health and as a member of this Government to properly fund the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026, and as the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to put in place a workforce plan to address staffing deficits in the health service; and

calls on the Government to:

— immediately revise the health budget for 2024 to provide the funding needed to deliver the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026;

— commit to full multi-annual funding of the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026;

— end the recruitment embargo across the Health Service Executive;

— fund the 1,500 acute hospital beds which are needed to reduce overcrowding; and

— implement a medium- and long-term workforce plan for the health service to address staffing deficits, including in cancer services.

Cancer is a leading cause of death in Ireland. It is a sobering reality that one in two people will develop it at some point in their lives. The facts are that Ireland has the third highest mortality rate from cancer in western Europe and the Government is failing to get ahead of the problem. The first and second national cancer strategies were the poster children of success in the health service, and rightly so. Many of us have commended the real progress made under them. The reason progress was made was that funding was given to put in place the additional supports, staff, infrastructure and healthcare capacity that could deliver better health and cancer outcomes for patients. There have been tremendous improvements in cancer care since the first strategy. I pay tribute to all the staff who work in cancer services.

The problem, as outlined very clearly by the Irish Cancer Society last week and also outlined in a letter penned to all the major newspapers and news outlets today and yesterday by 21 clinicians and medics who work in cancer care, is that, under the current national cancer strategy, they do not have confidence that continued improvements in cancer outcomes are going to happen. In fact, they say there will be regression in many areas. They rightly pointed out that, in five of the seven years of the current strategy, it has not been properly funded. For 2024, €20 million was needed to fund the strategy properly. What did the Government allocate for it for the entirety of this year? It gave zero in additional funding. For the past several years, the national cancer strategy has not got any additional funding, meaning all the additional staff needed and all the additional measures that need to be implemented to ensure cancer patients can have the health outcomes they need have not been put in place. Medics should not have to raise these issues for the Government to act. The Government can take issue with anything I say and can even take issue with what the Irish Cancer Society says, but it cannot take issue with all those medics at the heart of developing the strategy and delivering cancer services. These medics are telling the Government that all the issues that I and others are raising, such as hospital equipment not being properly utilised and a lack of radiation therapists, radiographers and cancer care staff, are all having an impact on cancer outcomes. There is nobody in this State who has not lost someone to cancer. As the Minister of State knows, I lost my own mam a number of years ago, as have many. It is really traumatic for anyone to lose a loved one to cancer.

All we and society want is to ensure that we do our best to provide the best services. We should juxtapose that with the position of the Government, including Simon Harris, the current Taoiseach. It has decided, despite a request from the National Cancer Control Programme, NCCP, for €20 million in 2024 to start to make the improvements necessary, to say "No" and give it zero euro. What does that say to all those staff who are working in cancer services who are crying out for help? We can see this when they write letters to Taoiseach. What does it say to cancer patients and their families who are at their wits' end coming to terms with a diagnosis and having to go through all the necessary treatments? It is a real slap in the face. We have had 13 years of Leo Varadkar, Simon Harris and Stephen Donnelly as Ministers for Health. We see a major problem with overcrowding in our hospitals and are aware that one of the consequences of this is that hospital managers are forced to cancel procedures. We know that many of those are cancer procedures, as we have heard from the chair of the steering group of the national cancer strategy at a meeting of the Oireachtas health committee last week. We are aware that in all the years in which Simon Harris was Minister for Health, he failed to properly fund the national cancer strategy. In fairness to the current Minister, Deputy Donnelly, he did make a difference in the two years in which he did fund the strategy. Six hundred and seventy staff were hired. Then the funding was stopped and there was nothing after that. You cannot stop and start; there needs to be a continuous flow of funding.

From my perspective, we need a change of direction in healthcare. We need new ideas and leadership. We have had 13 years of failure from three Ministers – Leo Varadkar, Simon Harris and Stephen Donnelly – and it really is time for a step change, new ideas and a new direction in healthcare. I propose the motion.

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