Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, on his new role. We served together in the European Parliament. Who would ever have thought we would serve in this Parliament together? Politics is a strange game.

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion because it highlights the fact that the cancer strategy has not been properly funded for three out of the past five years. When it comes to survival rates, Ireland is around mid-table in the EU-27, and when it comes to western EU member states, we have the third worst mortality rate.

At a recent meeting, Professor Michael Kerin, who is the director of the Saolta network, based in Galway, said that the highest incidence of cancer and the highest mortality rate from cancer are in the west and north west. Ireland is performing poorly relative to many western European countries in regard to cancer mortality, and the west and the north west are at the bottom ranking in Ireland. How does the Minister of State think that makes people in the west and north west feel? How does he think that makes people who are newly diagnosed with cancer feel? How does he think it makes people in the middle of their treatment or finishing their cancer treatment feel when they look at those statistics? That is just not acceptable, and the Minister of State will have to agree that it is just not right. All we can do, however, is start from today and make every possible effort to properly fund our cancer services and to attract and retain the specialised staff we need to run those services.

I will concentrate on the regional aspect of the cancer strategy because, as I said, there is an absolute need to prioritise investment in cancer services in the west and north west.

We have the worst outcomes and it is the responsibility of this Government to deal with that. The national development plan has Galway as the cancer centre of a cancer network encompassing Sligo University Hospital, Letterkenny University Hospital, Castlebar and Portiuncula hospitals. Some progress, to be fair, has been made. A project lead was appointed this week to support this model of care. What is crucial is that it is properly funded and resourced from day one so that we can have a world-class cancer service in the region. This must include rapid access clinics to diagnose cancer. Many cancers are picked up by screening or in GP surgeries but we need a specialised diagnostic centre, which will be vital to ensure precise diagnosis. That will then lead to a more precise care plan delivered by multidisciplinary teams that will comprise experts from the cancer centre in Galway and experts from whichever hospital is closest to where the patient lives.

A positive development in cancer care in the past number of years is that we have more precise diagnosis and treatment. Cancer surgery is no longer just one surgeon who deals with many different kinds of cancer but specialists aided by robotic and image-guided surgery in a specialist centre to deliver the best outcomes. That will often be delivered in the cancer centre and all the related care, what are called systemic therapies, including chemotherapy, haematology, oncology, immunotherapy, oral and cancer medications, and ambulatory services will be delivered as close as possible to where a patient lives by a multidisciplinary team and certain surgeries will be delivered in local hospitals. However, none of those interlinked multidisciplinary teams that deliver the best possible outcomes for patients can be put in place unless a national cancer control programme is properly funded and, as far as I am concerned, needs to be properly funded in the west and north west. This summer, the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes will visit Galway, Sligo and Letterkenny to accredit those hospitals as part of comprehensive cancer services. The issue is that in Galway, cancer patients are competing with patients in the emergency department for bed space. That is not acceptable. We have the very best of nurses and doctors delivering a cancer service but it is not properly funded. We cannot wait any longer in the west or north west.

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