Inconsistent State funding creating gaps in cancer treatment in Ireland

Irish Cancer Society CEO, Averil Power, said BowelScreen has not been expanded as planned.

A lack of consistent State investment in cancer treatment is creating care inequalities and putting lives at risk.

That was the warning at the launch of a new report from the European Cancer Organisation (ECO) and the Irish Cancer Society which shows that cancer remains the single biggest killer in Ireland, responsible for 9,620 deaths, or 30% of all deaths, annually.

The report, launched during the Joint Euro-American Forum on Cancer in Dublin, includes data from ECO’s European Cancer Pulse tracker which shows signs of progress but also highlights significant cancer inequalities faced by people living in the most deprived areas of Ireland.

Attendees were told that Ireland needs to be more ambitious in preventing cancer, with the country doing well on HPV vaccination, but falling behind on its targets for tobacco and alcohol consumption, with the use of electronic smoking devices, binge-drinking by young people, and obesity rates much higher here than elsewhere in the EU. 

Among the ECO recommendations for policymakers are:

• raising the minimum age for tobacco sales to 21 to achieve a European tobacco-free generation;
• addressing the cancer workforce crisis;
• legal protections for cancer survivors so that they need not declare their disease to financial service providers.

Covid-19 has had some impact on cancer care but ECO said the government’s failure to provide any new recurrent development funding for the National Cancer Strategy in 2023 or 2024 has widened the 9% survival gap even further.

“Our data has shown that consistency of cancer policy has resulted in better outcomes for cancer patients in Ireland when compared to the UK for example,” said Professor Mark Lawler, Professor of Digital Health at Queen’s University Belfast, co-lead of the All Island Cancer Research Institute and co-chair of the ECO Emergencies and Crises Network.

“But consistency means you have to keep on doing it. Letting up gives the advantage back to cancer.

“The recent lack of investment in the Irish National Cancer Strategy is worrying and risks sending Ireland backwards in terms of cancer outcomes, undoing the good work of previous decades. Ireland must act now.” 

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Irish Cancer Society CEO, Averil Power, said people across the country do not have equal access to cancer care and services.

“Inequality between public and private patients is growing, particularly in terms of access to new medicines,” she said. “The lack of government investment in Ireland’s current National Cancer Strategy means target waiting times for cancer tests are consistently being exceeded."

She said it is very positive that the uptake of Ireland’s current screening programmes is higher than the EU average but BowelScreen has not been expanded as planned.

“We need to ensure that every Irish person, regardless of their background or income, has the best possible chance of surviving cancer," she said.

“Without proper multi-annual funding for the National Cancer Strategy, not only are Ireland’s cancer outcomes unlikely to improve but we are at serious risk of going backwards.”