Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)

The Minister is welcome. I thank her for agreeing to come to the Chamber. I made the request on foot of Senator Costello's request. It is an important debate. I thank the Minister for coming down to Galway recently to meet the team. She got a positive and uplifting presentation from Professor Michael Kerin. I commend his work. To quote his own words in the Cancer Centre Annual Report 2023:

The quantity and quality of care provided in the context of ever increasing demand and poor infrastructure is extraordinary.

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We are dedicated to working collaboratively with our academic partners to advance education, research, and training to improve patient outcomes and support the development of highly skilled multidisciplinary teams across the network.

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We envisage a Cancer centre at the level 4 hospital at GUH with ambulatory centres across the region. This is a key priority, empowering it to respond to increased demand, new and innovative technologies, ensuring that patients in the Saolta catchment have equitable access to high quality facilities, close to home and world renowned cancer care leading to enhanced patient outcomes.

That is what Professor Kerin has been advocating for some time. As the Minister will know, people in the west have lower outcomes for cancer than those in the rest of the country.I welcome the commitments given in the programme for Government, such as, for example, ongoing investment and the extension of the age for screening. I also acknowledge that the overall five-year survival rate is high but it is lower for those who are assessed and diagnosed at a later stage. There is ongoing investment and research and there are fundraising efforts, which the Minister witnessed and commended. There is the work of the Lambe Institute. I acknowledge all those impressive people who were there to showcase their work and research in Galway on that day.

I wish to discuss the requirement to locate a cancer centre in the Galway region. A first stage of that would be improved access and the improved dignity of treatment. I say that because patients in Galway must seek treatment through the emergency department because there is no stand-alone cancer centre. To have a cancer centre we need investment in additional beds - protected cancer beds. That is part of the vision that was outlined in the masterplan on that day in Galway. That level of dignity is a requirement. I therefore ask the Minister to prioritise the provision of additional beds for Galway once the masterplan is approved.

Professor Kerin has done tremendous work to showcase and highlight the needs of the west. There is a masterplan and I ask the Minister to continue to promote it and ensure investment in University Hospital Galway for all cancer patients.