{"id":536621,"date":"2026-07-07T00:48:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/536621\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T00:48:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:48:26","slug":"cancer-care-systems-are-struggling-to-keep-up-with-rising-patient-numbers-experts-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/536621\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancer care systems \u2018are struggling\u2019 to keep up with rising patient numbers, experts warn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cancer care systems \u201care struggling\u201d to keep up with rising patient numbers, senior oncologists, cancer nurses, and the Irish Cancer Society have warned.<\/p>\n<p>A woman diagnosed with cervical cancer weeks after giving birth and who had six radiation sessions delayed because equipment broke down was one example given by the society.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Aoife Habenicht also spoke out in support of calls for change in advance of Budget 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">In the Irish Cancer Society\u2019s pre-budget submission, healthcare workers warned that cancer incidence continues to rise, yet key parts of the system are struggling to keep pace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cWaiting time targets for cancer diagnostics are not being met,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cCancer surgeries are delayed because of shortages of staff, beds, and theatre capacity. Radiotherapy services are operating below their potential because they are not adequately resourced.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The society called for cancer care buildings, equipment, and digital infrastructure to be funded under the HSE Capital Plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Investment should also cover ring-fenced funding for radiology equipment such as for CT or MRI scans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cThirty years ago, roughly two in five people survived their cancer diagnosis. By the end of the last decade this increased to almost two in three people,\u201d the society said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">It called for multi-annual funding to maintain improvements in treatment as well as supporting cancer survivors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">This should cover rehabilitation services and palliative care, it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">It told the government the decisions taken in Budget 2027 will shape cancer outcomes for years to come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The society also called for improvements in preventative screening saying, for example, 100% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer at Stage 1 survive compared to 51% diagnosed at stage 4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Ms Habenicht said of her care: \u201cOf my 25 radiation sessions, six were delayed because the LINAC machine broke down and we had to move to another unit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5146052_8_articleinline_Aoife_20Habenicht_20headshot.jpg\" alt=\"Aoife\u00a0Habenicht said of her care: 'Of my 25 radiation sessions, six were delayed because the LINAC machine broke down and we had to move to another unit.'\" title=\"Aoife\u00a0Habenicht said of her care: 'Of my 25 radiation sessions, six were delayed because the LINAC machine broke down and we had to move to another unit.'\" class=\"card-img\"\/>Aoife\u00a0Habenicht said of her care: &#8216;Of my 25 radiation sessions, six were delayed because the LINAC machine broke down and we had to move to another unit.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">She saw a \u201ccritical shortfall\u201d in treatment despite the \u201cimmense compassion\u201d and skill shown by her medical teams. \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking that it&#8217;s fixable but not being addressed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">A patient advocate with the Irish Radiation Therapy Group, Ms Habenicht has contacted the HSE and met Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin about this.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cNobody should have to question whether the equipment that is delivering them life-saving care is fit for purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">When her son Sebastian was born early, she said she had \u201ca smear test to try to get a better understanding of how it all happened so quickly\u201d then.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cSix weeks later, I was diagnosed with Stage 3C cervical cancer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cMy previous smear tests had all been clear. It was incredibly shocking news to receive, especially as a new mum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Her treatment involved chemotherapy at the Beacon Hospital, radiation therapy sessions at St Luke\u2019s Hospital in Rathgar, and other treatment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\n            The days were longer than expected as the radiotherapy machine being used was old and unreliable.\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cI later found out that the machine I was assigned to is one of the oldest in Ireland, now in operation for 18 years, despite the advice that they are replaced every 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">In addition, she has permanent alignment tattoos which were needed for that machine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cI am left with the permanent reminders of my treatment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cThis is yet another reason why we need to replace those machines as tattooing is no longer required of patients if we had updated machines like other European countries.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cancer care systems \u201care struggling\u201d to keep up with rising patient numbers, senior oncologists, cancer nurses, and the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[258,103,2120,61,60],"class_list":["post-536621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-health","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}