Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I will inquire of the HSE in respect of that, although I would make the point that we have an alternative. The HSE outsources selected patients to private radiotherapy providers to ensure timely access to treatment when clinically appropriate. There is room for improvement and we will continue to work towards meeting the targets. In St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, 65% of patients are within the target while all other centres are meeting the 90% KPI.
Approximately €10 million is spent on outsourcing radiotherapy appointments every year and that is in addition to the privately provided services in Limerick and Waterford, which are contracted to deliver services on behalf of the HSE. Then there is an important service level agreement between the HSE and Health and Social Care Northern Ireland to provide radiotherapy on a cross-Border basis at the North West Cancer Centre, which I visited in Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry. That initiative offers cancer patients within a 90 minutes road journey of the city of Derry access to radiotherapy in Altnagelvin and this provides important access in the north west to patients who would otherwise face long travel distances. We are utilising private capacity and Northern capacity, which we have invested in as part of the North-South co-operation. We are trying to build up the capacity on all fronts.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-10