Seán Ó Fearghaíl
Ceist:83. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Health the plans in place to bring forward a new cancer strategy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17300/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 5 March 2026
Ceisteanna (83)
Freagraí scríofa
One in two people are expected to receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Today over 220,000 people are living with or beyond cancer, 50% more than a decade ago. The Government is fully committed to improving cancer care for those patients, ensuring timely access to treatments, boosting cancer survival rates, and of course, supporting prevention.
Ireland’s approach to cancer control has been guided by National Cancer Strategies since 1996. This strategic approach has ensured that international best practice and evidence-based measures have been adopted into our cancer services and they transformed cancer care and patient outcomes.
The current Strategy, which was published in June 2017, contains 52 recommendations. 43 of these have been implemented and the HSE National Cancer Control Programme is continuing to progress implementation of the remaining nine. These will drive further reforms and service improvements.
Alongside this, the regional variation in some of our cancer services must be addressed. Patients are entitled to high quality, timely, effective care, irrespective of where they live.
It is important that we continue to plan for future demands in cancer services. In addition to growth in the absolute numbers of cancer cases, estimated at 3% per year, the complexity of treatment is increasing. We must ensure that we harness the exciting new developments in medical care that can transform outcomes for patients.
These will be key questions to be considered when the evaluation of the current strategy is being conducted and will inform our future strategic planning.