HSE and Health Department fail to give spending figures for cancer services

The reduced cancer mortality rate reflects improvements in diagnosis and treatments, which does highlight the benefit of investments in the likes of screening and medicines, the report said.

The HSE and Department of Health could not provide data on service-level spending figures on cancer services in Ireland when asked, a new report has said.

This means Ireland cannot “comprehensively link investment with performance or outcomes”, the independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) said.

This is despite figures that show that the spending on cancer medicines via the Oncology Drug Management System has increased by more than 3000% in the last decade, from €4.7m in 2013 to €151m in 2022.

The PBO examined public investment in cancer care in Ireland and said that the incidence of cancer in Ireland is expected to increase substantially in the next 20 years if current rates continue.

“It is estimated that the level of public investment in cancer services is over €1bn, though no official aggregate data exists to verify this estimate,” the report said.

“Furthermore, very little disaggregate data is available. The absence of such data limits our understanding of how efficiently resources are being allocated and how outcomes in Ireland fare in comparison to EU and OECD counterparts.” 

The PBO said it asked the HSE and Department of Health for cancer-specific budget and spending data.

It said: “The PBO were advised that due to the limitations of the HSE's financial systems, service-level spending data for cancer services is not available.” 

More cancer survivors

It does note, however, that the cancer mortality rate has declined in Ireland. 

“The number of people living after an invasive cancer diagnosis is up 50% compared with one decade ago,” it said.

This reduced mortality reflects improvements in diagnosis and treatments, which does highlight the benefit of investments in the likes of screening and medicines, the report said.

However, being able to more effectively track this spending would provide several benefits. 

This includes “a better understanding of Ireland’s performance and health outcomes, improved oversight over public health investment, capacity to better identify drivers of healthcare spending, and an enhanced evidence base to inform policy and planning,” it added.