The Irish Cancer Society is urging for an additional funding of €20 million in Budget 2024 to improve the survival rates and quality of life for those affected by cancer.
According to Averil Power, the Chief Executive, even before the pandemic, Ireland was lagging behind other leading countries in terms of cancer survival rates and patient outcomes.
“Ireland has the second highest rate of cancer in the EU. That was in 2020 and our cancer death rate was also 11 percent higher than the EU average. So, even prior to Covid, we were far behind the leading countries in terms of cancer survival and patient outcomes in general. Our national cancer strategy sets out a roadmap to address that issue and improve cancer prevention, detection and treatment. And the price tag for that is an extra €20 million a year to make improvements each year by improving how we detect and treat cancer. But it has only received that funding in two years since it was published in 2017,” reports Breaking News.
The €20 million would be spent on a range of things, she said. “Improved diagnostics, expanding some of the positive initiatives that were implemented when it was properly funded. So for example, there were nursing posts put into all the cancer treating hospitals around the country to ensure that patients who have complications between treatments don’t have to go to every department, but that’s only available Monday to Friday during the day, and that’s a measure that reduces anxiety for cancer patients,” reports Breaking News.
“This would also reduce pressure on the rest of the health service as cancer patients would not have to risk attending a busy ED. Measures like that, if delivered in cancer care will also free up capacity in a busy health service during the winter. So that’s why we’re saying that, we know obviously the finances are under pressure and not everything is possible. And we think it’s a no brainer and incredibly shortsighted not to be funding initiatives that improve cancer survival,” she added, reports Breaking News.
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