Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here today. I also thank Bríd McGrath who is in the Public Gallery. She raised this issue with me and since then we have been working together on it. We have discovered that a large number of people in Ireland have benefited from cold cap treatment in hospitals. In some ways it is quite straightforward. Much research have been done and in over 50% of cases, cold caps significantly reduce hair loss. There is also a large amount of research which shows that hair loss is reported as the most important factor when people think about the side effects of chemotherapy and other forms of medicine during cancer treatment. This is particularly the case for women. People often want to undergo treatment privately. They do not necessarily want to announce to the world that they are going through cancer treatment, it is completely up to them. People, particularly women, feel quite exposed and vulnerable.

The Department of Health and the Department of Social Protection have done great work in relation to wigs for cancer treatment patients. I would love to see this initiative progressed further. We can also look at preventing hair loss in the first place. We have done some work on this and submitted a parliamentary question, which demonstrates that the cost of these machines is €20,000. We have 19 hospitals that have no facility at all for these cold caps. That would amount to €364,000 in total to get a machine in each of those hospitals. We often talk about the postcode lottery for many things in Ireland. However, there is no need in this particular case because it is such a small cost. One particular hospital in Tullamore did have the facility but it was taken away during the pandemic and never reinstated.

I know the Minister's commitment to treatment and healthcare when it comes to women. For this reason, I feel he is the appropriate Minister to bring this issue to. I am hopeful that he will see the benefits.

On the HSE's website, there is information about the prevention of hair loss. It says that it may be possible to reduce the chances of hair loss by wearing a cold cap while having chemotherapy. A cold cap looks like a bicycle helmet and cools the scalp during a treatment session. This reduces blood flow to the scalp, reducing the amount of medicine that reaches it. Whether a person can use it depends on the type of cancer they have. In Bríd McGrath's case, her oncologist recommended it because it was available in St. James's Hospital. In my own area of Galway, treatment is not available in all. It is not available in Portiuncula University Hospital and in many other places across the country. It is simply an inequality that needs to be addressed.

The national cancer control programme, NCCP, also recommends it. It has said that ensuite single rooms should be provided for privacy or clinical reasons, for example for those posing an airborne infectious risk, for elderly frail patients and for those using scalp cooling treatment. It gives the issue a bit of weight that both the NCCP and the HSE recommend it. It is time we took the small step to make treatment for everybody, but particularly for women, much more humane and respectful. I do not think there is much more to say on it. It quite a simple, straightforward, relatively cost-effective measure we could take as a Government. I hope the Minister will respond positively.