Written answers

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Department of Health

Health Services Provision

Photo of Alan FarrellAlan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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181. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to ensure reductions to the Health Service Executive service plan budget will not affect or delay patients receiving chemotherapy for bowel and pancreatic cancer in several Dublin hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48528/13]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The quality and safety of our health services, including cancer services, has been a focus over the past number of years and this will continue in 2014 in the context of the HSE Service Plan for 2014. I wrote to the HSE on Thursday 31 October to confirm that the Executive has until 15 November to submit its Service Plan. In that letter, I also conveyed to the Executive that my overriding priority is patient safety, with the next priority being to treat patients in as timely a fashion as possible. A key priority for 2014 will be to further support the eight designated cancer centres, within available resources, to maintain continued improvements in diagnosis, surgery and multi-disciplinary care.

I welcome the huge improvements that have been made in recent years, led by the HSE National Cancer Control Programme. It is very encouraging to note that five year relative survival for all cancers is rising and is now 56.4% for people diagnosed between 2003-2007, as compared with 49.6% for people diagnosed in 1998-2002. Clearly 2014 will be a very challenging year for the health services. In meeting this challenge, the goal, wherever possible, is to cut the cost of services rather than the level or quality of the services delivered, and to accelerate the pace of reform. The reform programme for hospitals, as set out in Future Health, aims to deliver more responsive and equitable access to services for all patients; to organise public hospitals into more efficient and accountable hospital groups, which can deliver better patient care for less cost; and to ensure that smaller hospitals continue to play a key role.

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