A woman in my constituency of Galway West got the devastating diagnosis last year that she had cancer. She expected she would be seen and begin her treatment within days, but instead she had to wait three months to start it. When families receive a diagnosis of cancer, or when a person receives that diagnosis, they have a lot to process. The last thing they need to be doing is fighting and getting on to local TDs and getting on to the hospital to try to access treatment. That should be basic and should be something given to them immediately. Unfortunately, this woman's situation is not unusual, and that is probably the most frightening aspect of this. Thousands of cancer patients are having to wait longer than the Government's 15-day target for cancer treatment. Every cancer patient should have timely access to high-quality care and they should get that immediately. Instead, it seems to be a postcode lottery. Last year, 141 cancer patients at University Hospital Galway had to wait longer than the 15-day target to access their first chemotherapy treatment. Everybody should be getting the care they need and it should not be based on where they live. There are two other issues that I want raise having seen them in the past year. First, I find it shocking that when a chemotherapy patient lands into the emergency department, they wait for hours to get a trolley and when they get one, they are put in an open place. They are not supposed to be mixing with people, yet they are left on a trolley. I have put in representations about this but the hospital is bursting at the seams and it tries but it cannot cope. We have a situation where chemotherapy patients are exposed in that way. Second, I want the Minister of State to look at the issue of those with pancreatic cancer having assistance with the pump they can get, because of the issues of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Sentiment score: -0.31