Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady met this week with CEO of the Irish Cancer Society Averil Power along with other members of the Charity to discuss current levels of underfunding of cancer services in the state. Other issues discussed at the meeting included the continuing grossly unfair practice by hospitals of charging cancer patients for car parking, which was previously reported as costing some patients up to €300 a month.
Brady said:
“Earlier today I met with the CEO and representatives of the Irish Cancer society, who laid out in clear detail the chronic underfunding of cancer services across the state.
The knock-on effect of this underfunding is having a very real and damaging impact on the lives of cancer patients. Patients are waiting longer for cancer tests, the government has failed to expand screening programmes as planned, diagnoses and surgeries are also being impacted.
Since 2017 there has been an underfunding of €180 million. Senior Doctors and researchers have already written to Greystones based Taoiseach Simon Harris regarding the underfunding of the National Cancer Strategy.
Last year 40% of cancer patients did not receive their radiotherapy in the recommended timeframe. A quarter of breast cancer patients scheduled for surgery did not receive their treatment in time in 2022.
With cancer diagnoses increasing, with estimates suggesting that one in every two of us will develop cancer in our lifetimes, it is critical that the government provide the level of funding that is needed to ensure that all cancer patients are given the best possible chance they can have of surviving.
Ireland currently has the third highest cancer mortality rate in Europe. This is not a statistic we want to be associated with. The government must do everything that they can to ensure that cancer services receive the funding needed to provide patients with a world class service.
The fact that hospitals are contributing to patient hardship through exorbitant car parking charges needs to end. That there are cancer patients facing additional expenses of up to €300 a month is a disgrace and needs to end. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis having to deal with additional, and what I would term immoral costs is unacceptable. Particularly when it was revealed late last year that car parking charges made close to seven and a half million for acute hospitals.
I am calling on the Taoiseach Simon Harris, and the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to act immediately to ease the burden on cancer sufferers, and to ensure that the funding is in place to give all cancer patients the best chance they can have in battling their illness.