Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I acknowledge that my colleague, Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, has apologised that he could not be here, nor was a Minister of State in the Department available to discuss this issue. I ask that the Minister make a statement on the access to cancer drugs and treatment for private and public patients. I want to shine a light on important issues that require immediate attention. It is a hugely concerning matter that within our healthcare system, there exists a glaring disparity in access to cancer drugs and treatments. This inequity has become increasingly pronounced as private health insurance holders gain immediate access to lifesaving treatments, while public patients are left waiting in uncertainty. The stark reality is that patients with private health insurance are often able to bypass waiting lists, expedite their treatment process and secure access to vital cancer drugs. Meanwhile, public patients, who do not have the same financial means, are left to navigate through prolonged waiting periods and face uncertainties about their health and well-being.

I read a report in the Irish Examiner about oncologists in Galway such as Dr. Michael McCarthy, who stated that up to 2023, the only difference between public and private hospitals was the speed of access to certain procedures, but not access to treatments. That is access to vital lifesaving treatments, and the potential of the difference between life and death. Ireland had a proud record in treating cancer, but this is a retrograde step. We all understand the issue, because it is personal to many of us. Cancer is the biggest killer in Ireland. It accounts for approximately 30% of deaths every year. An estimated 42,000 people in Ireland get cancer every year and more than 9,620 people die every year from cancer.

Let us imagine a situation where we have preventable deaths from cancer occurring because a person does not have health insurance. We cannot stand over it and we cannot accept this. Ireland is at the bottom of the latest European table when it comes to access to new cancer medicines, ranking 29th among the 36 European states regarding the median time for reimbursement of oncology drugs. This clearly demonstrates the need for speedier reimbursement timeframes for cancer medicines. Based on the website for the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, it can be estimated that 24 European Medecines Agency, EMA, approved IV oncology products across 33 indications sought public reimbursement between 2021 and 2023 but had not been approved by the end of 2023. My plea is for an early access pathway for new life-changing cancer medicines that is introduced with haste.

Ireland needs to pool bids for new drugs more often with other countries. We have previous examples of this. Data shows that 40% of new drugs are not even offered to the HSE by pharma companies, due to our small population. Too many patients are missing out on medicines that are routinely available in other countries, including Northern Ireland. Currently, the reimbursement system and lengthy approval timelines do not put patients at the centre of the process. I accept and appreciate that the Minister is working to improve the reimbursement system but the improvements are not being seen quickly enough. When we see politicians week in and week out in these Houses pleading to get access to certain drugs and treatments for a constituent, it is glaringly obvious that the system is broken.

We need to look at what other countries are doing, for example, France, and see what we can use here. The Haute Autorité de Santé, HAS, system in France allows innovative medicines in areas of high unmet need to be reimbursed rapidly, within three months of EMA approval by temporary fast-track pathway while the full HDA normal assessment continues