David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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615. To ask the Minister for Health the number of cancer diagnoses in 2019 and 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5017/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The National Cancer Registry Ireland (NCRI), in its 2020 Annual Report, estimated that 24,793 invasive cancers (excluding Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer) were diagnosed annually in Ireland between 2018-2020. However, the full accurate data for 2019 and 2020 will not be available until the NCRI has collected and verified all data.

The HSE's National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) have provided data below on the number of primary breast, lung and prostate cancers diagnosed for those patients attending symptomatic breast disease clinics, rapid access lung and rapid access prostate clinics. This data is only a subset of total cancers diagnosed in the public hospitals, and it does not include activity in private hospitals.

Data collected to date is only complete to November 2020 and there is likely to be some change when the data is fully validated. The figures are based on date of first attendance. 

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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616. To ask the Minister for Health the number of cancer patients who saw a consultant in 2019 and 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5018/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The number of patients who attended Symptomatic Breast Disease Clinics, Lung Rapid Access Clinics and Prostate Rapid Access Clinics in January-November 2019 and 2020 is set out below. These clinics operate in each of the 8 designated cancer centres (with a Symptomatic Breast Disease Clinic also in Letterkenny University Hospital as a satellite of University Hospital Galway). The HSE's National Cancer Control Programme advises that data on the number of patients who saw a consultant at symptomatic cancer clinics for other tumour types is not currently available.

Data for 2020 is available up to and including November and so the figures below compare the first 11 months of 2019 with the first 11 months of 2020.

* The more recent 2020 data is subject to final verification.