This year, a total of 162 chemotherapy appointments for children were cancelled over a three-month period.
Data from the Health Service Executive also shows that another 198 chemotherapy appointments were also cancelled in July, August and September.
In the same period – the last quarter of 2022 – a total of 48 dialysis appointments were cancelled. All of these were to take place at Cork University Hospital.
The HSE has said that high attendances in emergency departments may lead to the cancellation of scheduled care appointments.
Other unforeseen circumstances, such as outbreaks of infection, can also lead to appointment cancellations.
Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane, who received the data via parliamentary questions, said overcrowding was the main reason for the cancellations.
“The fact that 162 chemotherapy appointments for children with cancer were cancelled in the last few months is a shameful indictment of the Government’s failure to invest in our children’s hospitals,” he said, reports RTE.
In urgent cases, appointments must be rescheduled within a week. In semi-urgent and non-urgent cases, they should, where possible, be rescheduled within three weeks.
The Childhood Cancer Ireland charity said improvements were needed.
According to RTE, its executive director, Laura Cullinan, said that “any delay, even for a few days, can cause a lot of distress and uncertainty for families”.
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