Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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673. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 463, 469, 474, 486, 488, 499 and 508 of 1 October 2024, if he will commit that the recommendations of the review will be implemented (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41475/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The National Radiation Therapist Review has published 16 recommendations it total which aim to help and support the Radiation Therapy profession into the future. These recommendations are currently being examined by my Department regarding implementation.

In Budget 2025, €33m has been secured for the National Cancer Strategy, including access to new cancer medicines, expansion of cancer screening, funding for community cancer support centres, and implementation of the National Cancer Strategy. This will mean over €110 million has been invested into the Strategy since 2017.

2025 funding includes 8 additional staff for radiation therapy services, and funding for 6 advanced practice posts for radiation therapy to implement one of the recommendations of the National Radiation Therapist Review.

The National Radiation Therapist Review considered important issues such as organisation structure, career development in line with Health and Social Care Professional Frameworks, strategic workforce planning, and recruitment and retention strategies. Funding has been made available for advanced practice posts, additional training places are being made available, and CORU registration requirements have been changed to bring Irish training requirements in line with international comparators (practice hours have been reduced to 1000 hours from 1200 hours).

Over 460 additional student places were provided in the Higher Education Sector on health-related courses in the academic year 2023/24. This included 5 additional Radiation Therapy places.

The number of Radiation Therapists on the CORU register has increased steadily from 431 (2019) to 467 (2020) to 499 in 2021. The latest available data shows that there were 514 Radiation Therapists registered by the end of 2022. According to the HSE census, in July 2024, there were 228 Radiation Therapists employed within the HSE.

Capital funding of over €140m has been used under the National Cancer Strategy to provide state of the art radiation oncology facilities in Galway and Cork, to update cancer infrastructure in chemotherapy wards and lab facilities for the benefit of patients, as well as investment in the new National Cervical Screening Laboratory.

New treatments are being provided to patients requiring radiation therapy, and these now cover more than 10% of patients receiving radiation therapy. Methods such as CyberKnife and SABR mean that patients are receiving more targeted treatment which reduces potential side-effects. The use of these treatments is expanding.