Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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758. To ask the Minister for Health the progress made in improving access to cancer services since 27 June 2020; the additional funding provided in successive budgets; his plans for 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29608/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is engaged in policy development and implementation across the full spectrum of issues that impact health and wellbeing in Ireland. I have listed below the main policy achievements and initiatives undertaken by my Department since I took post as Minister for Health in June 2020 which mark significant milestones in the development of health policy for Ireland. Relevant policy documents are available in detail on gov.ie/health. Further details of the main achievements made are and will continue to be documented in the Department of Health Annual Reports. These documents will detail the achievements of my department over the period of a year.

Progress made to improve access to cancer services is as follows:

• This Government has allocated substantial funding of €50m for national cancer treatment and screening services over 2021 to 2023. In the same period, this Government has allocated an additional €98m for new medicines, which has facilitated the introduction of 61 new cancer medicines.
• The Health Research Board has allocated €37.6m to cancer research since 2020, including €21.6m to support improved cancer clinical trials infrastructure.
• In 2024, €3m has been allocated on a once-off basis to the Alliance of Community Cancer Support Centres, which provide counselling and other services to cancer patients in the local community.
• Funding over the course of the Strategy has enabled the recruitment of more than 670 staff to our national cancer services since 2017, including an additional 200 nursing staff, 100 consultants, and 180 health and social care professionals in designated cancer centres.
• The substantial funding provided to cancer services in 2021 and 2022 has facilitated cancer services to recover to above 2019 service levels following the pandemic, and increased staffing in all areas to strengthen multidisciplinary teams. Funding of €3.4m supported increased patient attendances at Rapid Access Clinics (RACs) and improved performance against national Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• Ground-breaking therapies such as CAR-T cell therapy have been rolled out in Ireland for the first time (to adults in 2021 and children in 2022).
• Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRT) was made available in Ireland to patients with neuroendocrine tumours for the first time in 2023.
• Medical oncology services have been strengthened and have become one of the main types of cancer treatment with over 10,000 patients receiving services each month, helping patients to avoid hospital attendance.
• The National Cancer Research Group was established in June 2019 and was refreshed in 2023. The Group includes representatives of the Department, National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP), Health Research Board, and the Irish Cancer Society. Membership of the group also includes academia, the charity sector, a patient representative, and other relevant stakeholders.
• The NCCP supported the development of nursing/allied health professional research through the Cancer Nursing Research Award 2021 in collaboration with the Irish Cancer Society.
• The National Cancer Information System (NCIS) is a single national computerised system that records and stores information relevant to a patient’s health care. NCIS is currently being introduced on a phased basis to all public hospitals providing cancer services. The roll-out will take a number of years and remains a key objective for the NCCP. Additional sites have been identified for roll-out of NCIS in 2024. NCIS is now live in nineteen sites nationwide.
• The NCCP has led in the development of Best Practice Guidance for Community Cancer Support Centres, and an Alliance, recognising the important role cancer support centres play in the provision of community psychosocial support for cancer patients and their families, has been established.
• Survivorship programmes including ‘Cancer Thriving and Surviving’ and ‘Life and Cancer – Enhancing Survivorship (LACES) have been delivered.
• New models of care for cancer and national clinical guidelines for 8 tumour types have been developed, e.g. Psycho-oncology Model of Care in 2022, CAYA Psycho-oncology Model of Care in 2023, Hereditary Cancer Model of Care in 2023, Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) Model of Care in 2022, and national breast cancer clinical guidelines in 2020, with radiation oncology update in 2023.
• €2.07m was provided for enhancing radiotherapy services, including 25 additional staff and the continued roll-out of new and innovative forms of radiotherapy.
• Construction of a new €70m radiation oncology facility at University Hospital Galway was completed in 2022, with first patients seen in Q2 2023.
• National Cervical Screening Laboratory has been scaling up operations after receiving full accreditation by the Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB).
• Under commitments in the Programme for Government, from October 2023 the age range of people eligible for Bowel Screen, was lowered to now include women and men aged 59 years.
• In November 2023, I announced that Ireland is on target to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. This places Ireland as one of the leading countries in the world in this regard. A roadmap has been published, charting Ireland’s next steps to elimination.