Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Government needs to end the recruitment embargo and implement a workforce plan for the health service. People shake their heads in disbelief at the recruitment embargo. The Government needs to train more radiation therapists and hire the staff needed to utilise all radiotherapy equipment. It is a scandal that expensive life-saving equipment is lying idle due to staff shortages. The Government needs to fund the 3,000 hospital and community beds needed to deal with overcrowding and avoid hospital cancellations. It needs to properly fund the cancer strategy on a multi-annual basis to drive improvements in cancer detection and survival rates.

The Irish Cancer Society sent us a document today which states that the current national cancer strategy, published in 2017, "has the potential to significantly improve Ireland’s cancer outcomes through investment in cancer prevention, detection, treatment and survivorship supports." However, it has only received proper funding in two of the seven budgets since then.

Why do we need to do those things? It is because cancer has affected every single family in this country. One word comes to mind every time we hear the word cancer, which is fear. It is fear about the diagnosis, how bad it will be, what stage it is at and whether it has been detected early enough. There is fear about the road ahead and the impact of the treatment process, including on the person's family. There is the stress of the income loss and how the person will cope if the worst happens. What people should not fear is the state of the health service itself, getting a diagnosis in time to prevent it from getting worse, and that there will be any delays in their diagnosis or treatment. That fear is elevated for people who rely on the HSE and do not have private health insurance.

A report from some years ago always sticks in my head. It laid bare the facts of our two-tier healthcare system. The death rate from cancer in Mulhuddart in my constituency is nearly three times that of Castleknock. Those two areas are geographically beside each other. In fact, just the Ongar Road separates them. Cancer death rates from 2009 to 2011 varied from 381 people per 100,000 in Blakestown to 128 people per 100,000 in Castleknock. Access to timely healthcare is critically important to outcomes.

This Government has failed. It has failed those people who need that treatment. That is why we need a general election and a new Government.

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