Results 101-120 of 25,248 for speaker:David Cullinane
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: First and foremost, I welcome our witnesses and thank them for the work they do to advocate for cancer patients. I will start with Ms Power. Regarding her opening statement, am I correct in thinking that she is saying that, due to what she describes as inadequate funding for the national cancer strategy itself, her organisation is no longer confident that the national cancer strategy will...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: It is obviously a very sobering comment-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: -----and it jumped out at me.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: The current strategy runs from 2017 to 2026. There have been seven budgets in this period. Ms Power said that in two of those cancer was adequately funded, but in five of them it was not. Obviously, that has consequences. If the funding is not there, one cannot improve the services and the outcomes will not come. Regarding budget 2024, how much additional funding was provided for the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: Zero.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: I attended a conference on mental health a while back. I was struck by a presentation that was given by the CEO of an organisation involved in mental health, and I think it can relate to many of the national strategies. There was a slide in the presentation which showed a car that was being held up not by wheels, but by policy documents and plans. A large number of plans was holding up the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: Before Professor Kennedy comes in, does Ms Power have an estimation or a figure for those seven years for how much additional funding was there for those two years, and what was the ask for the other five years where no funding was allocated? From her perspective, what was the requirement and then what was the shortfall?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: In short, in those five years that it was not funded an average of about €20 million a year would be needed to fund the programmes that were identified.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: As for the consequences, obviously this is about making sure we do right by cancer patients. The witnesses have said that more people are being diagnosed with cancer. It is a very traumatic experience for them and their families. Despite the challenges and despite the lack of funding, the people who work in this area and the specialists are doing a fantastic job. Anyone I know who gets...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: I would like to come back to the radiation therapy issue. This jumped out from the opening statement. Ms Power stated that while wait times for radiation therapy have increased, expensive equipment is lying idle in hospitals due to an ongoing shortage of radiation therapists. It really drives people mad when we have equipment but do not have the staff to operate it. Why, in the witnesses'...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: I know we need more but in saying we cannot get them, why are they not there?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: I thank Professor Kennedy.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: We have seven minutes so if my questions can be answered as succinctly as possible that would be great. Who has overall responsibility for the national cancer strategy?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: Who has overall responsibility?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: The Minister has political responsibility. I am talking about operational responsibility.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: The Secretary General of the Department of Health is the person responsible for the national cancer strategy.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: Under the Secretary General, is there no lead person?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: Is there one person who is the lead, the champion, the person who is ultimately responsible? For any strategy to work it is necessary to make sure there are clear lines of communication so that I and everybody else in this Chamber and outside this Chamber knows who is responsible for the strategy. I ask that because I want to make this point first. Actually I am going to put my questions...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Funding and Implementation of the National Cancer Strategy: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)
David Cullinane: No, I did not ask about that. I asked whether a case is made for 2024.