Operating theatres empty due to staffing issues, says leading oncologist
Some 21 cancer doctors and researchers wrote to Taoiseach Simon Harris to publicly demand proper funding of cancer services.
Operating theatres are being left empty and unused due to staffing issues, a leading oncologist has warned.
Michael McCarthy, the chair of the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) medical oncology clinical leads group, warned that funding shortfalls are leading to the rolling closures of operating theatres, meaning that surgeons who operate on cancers often cannot do so.
He was one of 21 cancer doctors and researchers who wrote to Taoiseach Simon Harris to publicly demand proper funding of cancer services.
The open letter, supported by the Irish Cancer Society, warned that cancer survival rates are at risk of going backwards without sustained funding.
Mr McCarthy said the “only funding route” for improvements is through the NCCP.
The letter highlighted a range of problems facing patients including delays in surgery.
He cautioned: “The NCCP is a brilliant group of people, they are responsive and supportive, but if they have no funding to continue the implementation of the National Cancer Strategy, none of these problems can be addressed effectively.”
Sinn Féin brought a private members’ motion in the Dáil on Tuesday, calling for the immediate funding of the strategy.
The party's health spokesperson David Cullinane said a change in direction is needed.
“It’s disgraceful, to be honest, that it took the Irish Cancer Society and campaigners to come forward and then to have medical professionals, who don’t want to be sending letters to the Taoiseach, but who have been forced to do so due to the lack of capacity and the lack of funding,”, he said.
“When you have a letter of the magnitude that we saw... clearly citing failure of investment and the consequences for patient safety and patient care, I think it is very alarming.”
Siptu health sector organiser John McCamley also spoke out in support of the call for more funding.
He said between December 2019 and February this year, the radiation therapist workforce increased by only the equivalent of four full-time roles.
In March, he said Siptu identified “at least six machines used in the delivery of radiation therapy were lying unused" including at Cork University Hospital, St Luke’s Oncology Network, and Galway University Hospital.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly defended the funding available for cancer, saying additional investment was made in areas other than directly for the strategy.
“We are investing in cancer services this year, in terms of prevention, there’s more money going in,” he told the adding the same is true for community funding and recruitment.
He said the strategy is “very important” and pledged to advocate for extra funding going into the next budget cycle.
The minister later elected to oppose the Sinn Féin motion with its own counter-motion noting that that the work of the health service is “significantly improving outcomes” for people with cancer.
The countermotion said that there are more than 215,000 people currently living with a cancer diagnosis in Ireland due to an improvement in survival rates on foot of the current national cancer strategy.
This compares to 150,000 in 2017, while an additional 670 people having been recruited to national cancer services over the same timeframe.
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