WOMEN IN THE west and north-west of the country are contemplating paying cash for private breast cancer treatment due to the length of time they are waiting for public service therapies, according TD Martin Daly.
The Roscommon-Galway Fianna Fáil TD told an Oireachtas committee this week that he has received numerous complaints from women with breast cancer who are waiting a significant period of time between their diagnosis and their treatment starting.
Daly, who is also a GP, said it is “embarrassing for the State and for the health service” that women and their families are phoning his office in Roscommon-Galway asking for “ways to get into the private system”.
He said they are asking about paying cash to initiate their therapy for oncology after getting a diagnosis.
“By and large these are young women with families and there is severe apprehension and anxiety around this,” said Daly.
Delays in cancer treatment
Last July, data obtained by the Irish Cancer Society showed that just 76.3% of patients got their appointment within the target of 10 working days.
The figures were described at the time as a ‘shocking postcode lottery’, with patients living in certain areas less likely than others to get a much-needed appointment.
Last year, The Journal Investigates reported that not only are hospitals failing to consistently start chemo on time, but people are waiting for diagnostic scans, surgeries and other treatments.
Responding to Daly at the Oireachtas Health Committee this week, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said delays in treatment was “not acceptable”.
“What we want to achieve is that everyone receives their cancer diagnosis and treatment in the requisite period particularly in urgent symptomatic cases. There has been a difficulty in relation to the west and north west in different ways,” she said.
The minister said she expects the health service management in the north-west to “devote themselves to making sure there is equality of treatment and quick access”.
Stem cell therapy yet to rolled out in Galway
Daly also raised concerns about stem cell therapy, known as CAR-T therapy, which has been funded for Galway cancer services and has not yet been delivered by HSE west and north west.
“Galway, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo – the west – is being left behind,” he said.
The minister said she would be meeting with managers of every single hospital from the west and north west on Friday where she planned to ask what they are doing to roster people in the way that other regions have managed to roster.
She said the impact of urgent and emergency care impacts on everything else.
“If you are not getting that right you are not getting the other things right either. If you are not rostering people for quick diagnostics to get people in and our of hospital you are not doing it for cancer care either,” she said.
Speaking further on the issue, the minister said “there is something wrong” in the west and north-west.
“Where is the urgency?” the health minister added, stating that the stem cell therapy was due to open in Galway in quarter one of this year.
“That has to happen and I will do that,” said the minister, adding that Galway University Hospital has faced challenges in meeting its performance targets for cancer services.
“That is not okay,” she said.
Daly said the State is investing a huge amount of money in our health services and there is a need to ensure there is the proper return on that investment for the citizens.
“There should not be an inconsistency in access to service in a small country like ours. It should not be beyond us,” said the Fianna Fáil TD.
