{"id":551723,"date":"2026-07-15T23:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/551723\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T23:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:03:14","slug":"irelands-cancer-services-failing-to-meet-the-needs-of-patients-health-committee-told-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/551723\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s cancer services failing to meet the needs of patients, health committee told \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Cancer Strategy has \u201cfailed to deliver\u201d on its promises due to underinvestment, politicians have been told.<\/p>\n

The State\u2019s cancer strategy, which seeks to improve care and outcomes for cancer patients in Ireland, is concluding at the end of this year, with plans in place for the next iteration of the plan.<\/p>\n

However, the Irish Cancer Society<\/a> said the \u201chealthcare system cannot currently meet the needs of people seeking care today\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nikki Gallagher, chief executive of the national charity, told a meeting of the Oireachtas<\/a> health committee on Wednesday there were great projects which have \u201cworked very well to date, bringing benefit to patients\u201d.<\/p>\n

But she also outlined a number of areas the country has fallen behind in, including timely access to dedicated referral pathways for breast and prostate cancer, as well as timely access to treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelays in starting treatment negatively affect mortality rates. The risks to patients and their outcomes are too high – it is essential we get the cancer pathway right,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gallagher outlined figures from 2025, which showed: more than 11,600 (or roughly 39 per cent) of women did not access an urgent symptomatic breast disease clinic within time frame; 6,600 people did not get their urgent colonoscopy within time frame; 1,300 (or 15 per cent) did not start chemotherapy on time and 1,500 (or 21 per cent) did not start radiation therapy treatment on time.<\/p>\n

Gallagher said data from the first quarter of this year \u201ccontinue to show delays\u201d in services. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, without the sustained investment in the necessary strategic programmes and infrastructure, thousands of people have been waiting longer than recommended to get access to tests and treatment,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The charity said there is a \u201chigh degree of unmet need\u201d across the cancer spectrum, which it said must be considered in the next strategy.<\/p>\n

It called for a focus on screening, prevention, dying well with cancer, as well as living well with and after cancer.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the same meeting, Prof David Fennelly, clinical director of the St Vincent\u2019s<\/a> UCD Cancer Centre, said there are \u201ctwo key issues that impact our cancer services currently\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first issue is radiology. We are currently dealing with a lack of radiology resources. A very clear reason for that is lack of access to mammography. Again, looking at colonoscopies, same issue applies \u2013 lack of equipment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second [issue] is bed capacity. Our hospital is running at a capacity of 120 per cent. On a day-to-day basis, I\u2019m faced with a challenge of admitting a 75-year-old on a trolley in casualty versus a young patient in Tullamore with sarcoma who needs timely chemotherapy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Cancer Strategy has \u201cfailed to deliver\u201d on its promises due to underinvestment, politicians have been told.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60,27286,12636,101589],"class_list":["post-551723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-cancer-society","tag-oireachtas","tag-st-vincent-s-university-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551723","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=551723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}