Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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242. To ask the Minister for Health if she will ensure the regular (monthly or quarterly) publication of figures relating to cancer care from all hospitals, in consistent machine readable formats, as per the NHS in the UK, specifically outlining: monthly numbers of newly diagnosed cancers and referral sources; types of cancer; time from first contact to first consultation in weeks (2, 3, 4, 6 and 6+); time from first consultation to definitive diagnosis and reasons for any delay; time from diagnosis to first treatment and reasons for any delay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6730/25]

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Through successive budgets, Government has increased both capital and revenue funding for digital health including health information systems. Ireland is now investing a significant amount of resource in ICT and digital health. Between 2018 and 2025, capital funding for ICT has increased from €60 million to €190 million.

Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030 has been developed to reflect the rapidly changing landscape of health and social care in Ireland. The framework defines a Vision and Mission for Digital Health in Ireland. These are supported by six principles that describe how we will deliver on this vision, to guide investment and provide clear direction in building up strong digital health infrastructure and capabilities. The Programme for Government underlines the ambition set out in Digital for Care to continue to work towards the full digitisation of Irish healthcare records and information systems.

The National Cancer Registry (NCRI) was established in 1991 to collect and classify information on all cancer cases that occur in Ireland and has been collecting such data since 1994. The NCRI publishes reports on cancer trends and projections and publishes an annual statistical report, presenting information on cancer incidence, mortality, and outcomes, among other measures. Further details on the data collected by the NCRI are available from its website: www.ncri.ie/data/data-we-collect/data-fields, as well as reports published by the NCRI: www.ncri.ie/publications.

As the question relates to a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.