Mairéad Farrell: Cancer treatment delays left patients waiting
Mairéad Farrell speaks about cancer patients in Galway West who faced long delays for chemotherapy, describing a constituent who waited three months for treatment and wider systemic failures. She highlights that 141 patients at University Hospital Galway waited longer than the government's 15-day target and raises concerns about emergency department exposure and access to symptom relief for pancreatic cancer patients.
Immediate case: a constituent's wait
A woman in Farrell's constituency of Galway West received a cancer diagnosis last year and expected prompt treatment but had to wait three months to begin chemotherapy. Farrell says that when people receive a cancer diagnosis they need timely, reliable access to care - not to be battling for appointments or treatment.
Scale of the problem: targets missed
Farrell cites the scale of the issue at University Hospital Galway, where last year 141 patients waited longer than the 15-day target to start their first chemotherapy treatment. She frames this as a postcode lottery that leaves patients’ outcomes dependent on where they live rather than clinical need.
Frontline failures: emergency exposure and equipment access
She describes chemotherapy patients arriving at overcrowded emergency departments, waiting hours for trolleys and being placed in open areas where they are exposed despite infection risks. Farrell also raises the need for better access to symptom management, including pumps for patients with pancreatic cancer and attention to diabetes care.
Consequences and accountability
Farrell calls for immediate action to ensure high-quality, timely cancer care for all patients, irrespective of location. Her address presses hospitals and health services to address waiting-time breaches, emergency department overcrowding, and gaps in palliative and supportive equipment provision.
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A woman in my constituency of Galway West got the devastating diagnosis that she had cancer last year. She expected that she would be seen and begin her treatment within days, but instead she had to wait three months to start her treatment. Now when families receive the diagnosis of cancer, and when a person or an individual receives that diagnosis, they have a lot to process. The last thing that they need to be doing is fighting, getting on to local TDs, getting on to the hospital to try and access treatment. That should be basic, that should be something that is given to them immediately. Unfortunately this woman's situation isn't unusual, and that's probably the most frightening aspect of this, because we know that thousands of cancer patients are having to wait longer than the government's 15-day target for cancer treatment, and every cancer patient should have timely access to high-quality care, and they should get that immediately. But instead what it seems is that it's a post-cold lottery, and last year 141 cancer patients at University Hospital Galway had to wait longer than the 15-day target to access their first chemotherapy treatment. Everybody, everybody should be getting the care they need, and it shouldn't be based on where they live. And there are two other issues that I want to raise with you specifically, that I have seen in the last year. One is I find it shocking that when a chemotherapy patient lands into the emergency department, they are waiting for hours to get a trolley, and when they get a trolley, they're put on a trolley in an open place, when they're not allowed to go, you know, they're not supposed to be mixing with people, yet they are left on a trolley. I have put in representations in relation to this, but the hospital is bursting out as it seems, and it tries, but it can't. And we have a situation where a chemotherapy patient is exposed in that way, and I also want you to look at the issue of those with pancreatic cancer to having the assistance in terms of the, you know, the pump that they can get, and to make sure, because the whole issue of diabetes 1, type 1 and type 2.
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