I want to raise a very alarming and distressing case. It is the case of a woman from the west of Ireland left to wait six weeks to start her chemotherapy. At the end of November last, this mother of two young children received the devastating news that she had breast cancer, the same cancer her mother had died of in her 40s. To get a diagnosis of cancer is traumatic enough but to be told you have the same cancer that took the life of your mother is really terrifying. However, she did not give in to fear, she was up for the fight and she expected the health system would have her back. She was referred to University Hospital Galway for chemotherapy and expected to commence her treatment with the urgency required. However, as she waited the days rolled into weeks. Christmas came and went and still no appointment. The stress and anxiety of having cancer, worrying about it growing and spreading but not being treated got worse for her day by day. Her husband says they began, to use his words, "begging for chemo". She even offered to travel to other hospitals but her wait continued. By the second week of January this woman was still waiting for her chemotherapy appointment. Then she presented at the accident and emergency department in significant pain. She was left, by the way, to wait on a trolley. Only after being admitted to hospital did she begin her chemotherapy and it is very shocking that she started treatment only after she was admitted to hospital as otherwise she would have still been waiting. No cancer patient and no family should ever have to go through what this woman and her family went through. We all know early treatment is vital when it comes to surviving cancer. The National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 states treatment should start within 15 days of diagnosis but patients are being left to wait way beyond that timeline. Last summer the Irish Cancer Society rang the alarm bell loudly. It raised the major regional disparities that exist in accessing cancer treatment, with patients in the west often waiting seven or even eight weeks for their chemotherapy. That is terrifying. This is not the first time I have raised serious concerns about access to chemotherapy. The Taoiseach will recall the scandal of 800 children’s chemotherapy appointments being cancelled in 2023. The National Cancer Strategy was designed to guarantee prompt diagnosis and treatment but while Ireland has come a long way experts Dr. Michael McCarthy have warned that it is getting tougher and tougher to deliver care on time. He says we are now behind the curve and we are slipping back. Advocates have repeatedly warned we do not have enough staff, space or equipment to cope and the human cost is being paid by patients and families. This has to change because lives are on the line. Níor chóir go bhfágfar aon duine a fhaigheann diagnóis ailse le fanacht ar feadh seachtainí roimh ceimiteiripe a thosú. Caithfidh an Rialtas a chinntiú go bhfuil fáil ag othair ar chóir leighis chun a mbeatha a shábháil gan mhoill. I want the Taoiseach to tell me how many other cancer patients are currently left waiting and waiting like this. I want him to tell us what action he is going to take in this regard to guarantee not a single patient is left to wait weeks and weeks to start their lifesaving chemotherapy.
Sentiment score: -0.30
The issue is that it is not a specific or isolated incident. I would like to know the extent of this. I know about the case of this woman in particular. I have given the details of it. Dr. Michael McCarthy, who is president of the Irish Society of Medical Oncology, during the summer said: The reality in Galway is that patients are now typically [and I emphasise "typically"] waiting seven to eight weeks for their first session. With every week that passes, the risk increases that their cancer will grow, or worse that it will spread to other parts of their body. This is not an isolated phenomenon. I have set out the profound terror and distress this woman and her family experienced, but she is not on her own. I want to know more from the Taoiseach. We need numbers-----
Sentiment score: -0.05
-----and to know exactly how widespread this experience is and, more important, what the Government will do to fix this urgently.
Sentiment score: 0.27
That is for referrals.
Sentiment score: 0.00
No.
Sentiment score: -0.30
I can certainly do that.
Sentiment score: 0.34