"Cancer patients diagnosed in private hospitals more likely to survive than those in public system" - Tóibín

Meath West's Deputy Peadar Toibin spoke of how it feels to have "cancer growing within you" in a moving speech in the Dail on delays in radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

The Aontú leader told the Dáil that radiation and chemotherapy treatment targets are being missed around the country, and that people diagnosed in private hospitals are much more likely to survive cancer than those diagnosed in the public system.

“I have had cancer Taoiseach. I know what’s it’s like to have cancer growing within you. All you want to do is cut it out or zap it with chemo as fast as you can. Delayed treatment means radically worse results. Delayed treatment will mean the cancer can spread to other parts of your body. People are dying in this country for the want of timely treatment. The Irish Cancer Society has said that your government has met only one of the six targets set for cancer tests and treatment.

"Aontú has discovered that there is a 12per cent differential in breast cancer survival rates when we compare women diagnosed in public hospitals or private hospitals in this country. Women diagnosed with breast cancer in a designated cancer centre have an 85per cent chance of surviving five years, those diagnosed in “other public hospitals” have an 81per cent chance of surviving, while those diagnosed in a private hospital have a 93per cent survival chance.

"If you’re diagnosed with breast cancer in Sweden you are seven per cent more likely to survive than if you’re diagnosed in Ireland. In Britain you are five per cent more likely to survive. Taoiseach, when will you stop dividing cancer patients on the basis of post codes and income? When will citizens have equal access to life saving treatment?” he asked.

Deputy Tóibín said: “Where you live in Ireland is a significant determinant of whether you will survive cancer or die because of it. In Ireland today, post codes should have government health warnings. "When there is a cancer diagnosis in a family a dark cloud descends on everyone. While treatment success rates rightly give many people hope, there is no doubt that for serious cancers, every waking moment can be consumed with whether you will make it. The Irish Cancer Society today has released damning information that shows significant variations with regards access to cancer diagnostics and treatments. Timely life-saving chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments are being denied for patients referred for urgent breast and prostate tests. Chemotherapy should start within 15 working days of being prescribed. On Monday, I met doctors in Letterkenny who told me that just 12 per cent of cancer patients at the hospital received treatment within the recommended 15-working-day timeframe”.

Deputy Tóibín continued: “In Galway patients are waiting seven to eight weeks for treatment. The National Cancer Control Programme has written to Aontú to say that the HSE is failing to meet their own radiation treatment targets. In the year to August 24, treatment targets were met once in Galway and only twice in Cork. Cancer services on the northwest coast were shut down. Cancer centres in Galway, Waterford and Limerick do not have the necessary PET scanners and antique radiotherapy equipment is breaking down”.

Deputy Tóibín was diagnosed with melanoma in 2020 following the discovery of a spot on his head and was treated with surgery.