Patients in Drogheda are facing longer waits for chemotherapy than many other parts of the country, according to newly released cancer performance data.
Local Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne has said the figures reveal an alarming pattern of delayed care, with too many patients failing to begin treatment within recommended timeframes.
Data released to Deputy Byrne by the Health Service Executive shows that 17 per cent of patients in Drogheda are not receiving chemotherapy within the target timeframe of 15 working days. This places Drogheda 16th out of 25 hospitals nationwide that provide chemotherapy services.
Deputy Byrne said the figures should serve as a serious warning for the Government.
This is stark data, and it should be a wake-up call for the minister and the government. Despite the best efforts of staff who do trojan work every single day, cancer services are beginning to slip. The preliminary data for 2025 makes for very difficult reading.
People in Drogheda have to wait longer for access to chemotherapy than most other places in the country.
Out of 25 hospitals providing chemotherapy, Drogheda ranks 16th with 17% of people not getting chemotherapy within the target timeframe of 15 working days.
That is 67 people who faced serious delays in Drogheda for chemo in 2025.
Around the country, hundreds are left waiting as hospitals miss their targets to start chemotherapy, and this is just unacceptable.
Behind each of these figures are hundreds of people who are sick with worry, facing delay after delay and trying to cope with the fear that their cancer is progressing while they wait. Constituents of mine in Louth have come to me because they are waiting weeks for treatment. We recently had a case in Roscommon of a woman left waiting for six weeks to start chemotherapy.
And the cruel reality is that those who can afford to go private can get ahead, while everyone else is left to sit in a queue. That is wrong and completely contrary to Sláintecare, but this Government is allowing a tier cancer system to develop through political choices to underfund the Cancer Strategy.
We cannot allow cancer care to go backwards, but in some areas that is exactly what this data suggests is happening. In the majority of years since the strategy was launched in 2018 the Government made a decision to not provide new funding to implement the National Cancer Strategy and improve services. The Strategy has been starved of the multi-annual funding it needs.
Delays are hurting at every stage of a cancer patient’s journey from the first GP referral to a consultant, to diagnostics, to treatment, to surgery because the problem is not in one single place. Capacity failures ripple through the whole system.
Equipment is a major part of this. Some hospitals do not have enough equipment, in others it is outdated, and there are hospitals with new equipment but who cannot retain enough staff to operate it meaning services can’t run at full capacity. The fact that around 35% of radiotherapy equipment is out of date is simply unacceptable. Modern, up-to-date equipment must be matched with proper staffing, so capacity can be maximised.
The solution is simple. The Government must commit to full implementation of the cancer strategy with multi-annual funding, publish and deliver a credible workforce strategy, and urgently tackle diagnostic and treatment bottlenecks so patients are seen quickly, treated quickly and supported throughout their journey.
This data must be a turning point. Patients deserve timely care. Staff deserve a system that supports them. The Minister must act now to stop cancer services slipping further and to drive waiting times down.
