Funding for National Cancer Strategy must be a priority

Sir, – As cancer doctors and researchers, we are writing to highlight the impact that lack of investment in the National Cancer Strategy is having on people with cancer in Ireland.

The strategy, which the Taoiseach published when he was minister for health in 2017, has the potential to significantly improve Ireland’s cancer outcomes through investment in cancer prevention, detection, treatment and survivorship supports.

However, it has only received proper funding in two of the seven budgets introduced since then. As a result, while some improvements have been made, the National Cancer Control Programme has not been able to fully deliver on its ambition.

Screening has not been expanded as planned. Target waiting times for cancer tests are not being met. Cancer surgeries are frequently delayed due to shortages in staffing, beds and theatre space. Investment in infrastructure has been lacking, despite increasing infection control issues and rising cancer incidence. Radiotherapy services are operating significantly below capacity. We are falling far short of the already modest target of 6 per cent of cancer patients participating in clinical trials. Ireland is also one of the slowest countries in western Europe to make new medicines available to public patients.

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Our healthcare staff do everything they can to minimise the impact of these deficits on patients. However, it is simply not possible to provide optimal care or patient outcomes in these conditions.

In 2023, the European Cancer Inequalities Register (a collaboration between the OECD and European Commission) published a country profile for Ireland. This showed that in the most recent year for which data is available (2019), Ireland had the third highest cancer mortality in western Europe.

Given the impact of Covid-19 on Ireland’s cancer services and the Government’s failure to provide any new recurrent development funding for the National Cancer Strategy in 2023 or 2024, we have no reason to believe the situation has improved. Rather, given the pressure our services are currently under, Ireland’s cancer outcomes are at risk of going backwards.

People with cancer in Ireland deserve the best possible chance of surviving the disease and enjoying a good quality of life afterwards. This will only be achieved through properly resourced cancer services, with protected pathways that are not disrupted by other pressures on the health service.

We urge the Taoiseach to reverse the decision to provide no new recurrent funding to the National Cancer Control Programme in 2024 and to commit to sufficient ringfenced multiannual funding to enable full delivery of the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026. – Yours, etc,

Prof DONAL BRENNAN,

Professor of Gynaecological Oncology,

University College Dublin;

Prof SINEAD BRENNAN,

Consultant Radiation

Oncologist,

St Luke’s Radiation

Oncology Network;

Dr PAULA CALVERT,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist,

University Hospital

Waterford;

Prof RUTH CLIFFORD,

Consultant Haematologist at University Hospital

Limerick, Director of

Limerick Cancer Trials Unit, and School of Medicine,

University of Limerick;

Prof AEDÍN CULHANE,

Professor of Cancer

Genomics,

University of Limerick

and Director,

Limerick Digital Cancer

Research Centre;

Prof DAVID FENNELLY,

Clinical Director of

Oncology Services,

St Vincent’s University

Hospital Group and

Clinical Director of

St Vincent’s-UCD Cancer

Centre;

Prof WILLIAM

GALLAGHER,

Co-Lead, All-Island

Cancer Research Institute

and Professor of Cancer

Biology,

University College Dublin;

Prof MICHAELA HIGGINS,

President,

Irish Society for

Medical Oncology;

Prof JOHN KENNEDY,

Co-Director,

Trinity St James’s Cancer

Institute and Chair of the

National Cancer Strategy Steering Group;

Prof MICHAEL KERIN,

Chair of Surgery,

University of Galway

and Director,

Cancer Managed Clinical

Academic Network for

Saolta University Healthcare Group;

Prof MARK LAWLER,

Co-Lead, All-Island Cancer Research Institute

and Chair,

International Cancer Benchmarking

Partnership;

Dr LUKASZ MILEWSKI,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist,

Letterkenny University

Hospital;

Prof PATRICK MORRIS,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist,

Beaumont Hospital

and Medical Director,

Beaumont RCSI Cancer

Centre;

Prof JOHN McCAFFREY,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist and Clinical

Director,

Cancer Directorate,

Mater Misericordiae

University Hospital;

Dr MICHAEL McCARTHY,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist,

University Hospital Galway and Chair, NCCP Medical

Oncology Clinical

Leads Group;

Dr MIRIAM O’CONNOR,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist,

St Luke’s Kilkenny

and University Hospital

Waterford;

Prof GRAINNE O’KANE,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist,

Trinity St James’s

Cancer Institute;

Prof SEAMUS O’REILLY,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist,

Cork University Hospital

and Clinical Lead,

Cancer Trials Ireland;

Prof OWEN PATRICK SMITH,

Consultant Paediatric

Haematologist at Children’s Health Ireland

and Professor of Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology at Trinity College Dublin;

Prof JANICE WALSHE,

Consultant Medical

Oncologist,

St Vincent’s University

Hospital;

Prof LEONIE YOUNG,

Scientific Director,

Beaumont RCSI

Cancer Centre.