Paula Butterly
Ceist:1237. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Health to respond to matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30550/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 28 April 2026
Ceisteanna (1237)
Freagraí scríofa
I am committed to improving cancer care, ensuring better prevention, maintaining improvements in cancer survival rates, and timely access to treatments.
The Government has allocated significant funding of €105 million, including €23 million in 2025, to the National Cancer Strategy since the start of the strategy in 2017 to support cancer services and improve outcomes for patients. This includes allocating funding to screening programmes, cancer treatment and survivorship services.
This funding has enabled the recruitment of over 670 staff to our national cancer services, including 200 nursing staff, 100 consultants, and 180 health and social care professionals in designated cancer centres. Funding in 2025 will support recruitment of 179 additional staff to national cancer screening and treatment services.
Capital funding of over €140 million has been used since 2017 to provide state of the art radiation oncology facilities to establish a National Cervical Screening Laboratory, and to update cancer infrastructure in chemotherapy wards and lab facilities. This year’s capital plan includes €12.13m for radiation oncology projects along with further funding for the design and construction of Oncology Day Units and chemotherapy infrastructure.
Pancreatic cancer is the 9th most diagnosed invasive cancer, accounting for 2.5% of invasive cancer diagnoses in Ireland with around 600 new cases diagnosed each year. Early pancreatic cancer rarely presents with specific or classic red-flag symptoms and such symptoms typically appear only in advanced stages of the disease.
To improve patient care, the HSE National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) have completed scoping the requirements to develop a pancreatic pathway from primary care through tertiary care.
In line with Recommendation 21 from the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026, surgery for pancreatic cancer has been centralised to two cancer centres: A national centre in St Vincent’s University Hospital and an associated centre in Cork University Hospital. All hospitals can refer to these centres. The NCCP is working to further develop and streamline pancreatic cancer pathways from primary through to tertiary care with the objective of improving the time to diagnosis and treatment.
Furthermore, the NCCP genomic test directory for cancer, first published in July 2024 has now been expanded to include pancreatic cancer. The test directory comprises a list of clinical indications for genomic testing for cancer patients and is focused on clinically actionable findings.
The NCCP supports healthcare professionals in recognising and managing non-specific symptoms of cancer, including those that could indicate pancreatic cancer. The NCCP also works to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer among the public.