HSE National Cancer Control Programme Response to Irish Cancer Society Statement

Cancer survival is improving, and more people are living after cancer than ever before. Today, over 220,000 people in Ireland are living with or after cancer, which is a 50% increase compared to a decade ago. 

During the lifetime of the current National Cancer Strategy, the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) has allocated approximately €90 million for the development of cancer services, including €20 million for new services in 2025 and 2026.  This investment has supported the creation of over 800 WTE posts across the public cancer service, including approximately 120 consultant doctors, 300 nurses and 300 health and social care professionals.

This investment is having a real and measurable impact on access to cancer care and outcomes. 

The NCCP is fully committed to ensuring that all patients receive timely and equitable access to cancer treatment. The HSE recognises the critical importance of early intervention and the impact that delays can have on patients and their families.

While the operational responsibility for achieving appointment time targets lies with individual hospitals, this is a shared endeavour, requiring close coordination between providers and system-level leadership.  Through enhanced planning, monitoring, and targeted support, the NCCP will continue to work with hospital partners to improve performance and deliver high-quality care to all those affected by cancer.

Increased referrals driven by population growth, heightened awareness of symptoms and improved detection, in addition to increasing complexity of both diagnostic pathways and cancer care, are placing significant demand on existing services, as evidenced by performance data of some cancer services.  The key challenges particularly include access to diagnostics and capacity within assessment and treatment services.

To improve efficiency of services, the NCCP is introducing more streamlined clinical pathways based on clinical evidence – such as a mammography-only breast route, a dedicated family history pathway for those at increased risk and stratified self-managed follow-up protocols to support patients’ post-treatment. Infrastructure investments are ongoing to expand theatre capacity, inpatient beds, systemic therapy day wards and aseptic compounding units. A national radiation oncology equipment replacement programme, along with the expansion of the radiotherapy facility at the Beaumont Centre within the St. Luke’s Radiation Oncology Network (SLRON), is further enhancing radiation treatment capacity.

Several wider system developments are underway to respond to these pressures.  The National Radiology Strategy, currently under discussion between the HSE and Department of Health, proposes a restructured delivery model for radiology services.  Complementary work is also being advanced under the National Genetics and Genomics Strategy (2022) and National Laboratory Programme, both of which will benefit cancer diagnostics.

At community level, the NCCP Alliance of Community Cancer Support Centres and Services has now been implemented, with a network of approximately 45 organisations that deliver professionally led survivorship supports to patients and families across almost every county in Ireland. 

To sustain this progress, consistency and assurance around future funding would be helpful. This would enable forward planning, capacity-building and strategic implementation of the National Cancer Strategy. The NCCP is actively engaging within the HSE and with the Department of Health to ensure adequate resources are in place for 2026 and beyond. These efforts will also inform the development of a new national cancer strategy to guide the direction of cancer care in the years to come.