Emma Hart

When a person has a suspected breast cancer, they'll be referred to an urgent symptomatic breast disease clinic.

And what we're seeing is that on a national level and in some hospitals, the target for getting in within 10 days is just not being met.

So in 2025 alone, out of maybe 37,000 people who were referred into these symptomatic breast disease clinics on an urgent basis,

11,000 plus were not actually seen within the recommended timeframe.

So that represents about four in 10 people who were referred into symptomatic breast disease clinics on an urgent basis.

Yeah, it's really important to have access to timely data because this will help decision makers understand how to plan and resource services.

We do hear from people who contact us because they cannot get into their appointment within the recommended timeframe.

And you can only imagine that when somebody has been referred to further tests because there's a suspected maybe cancer involved, they really want to get in there.

as soon as possible so either they can rule cancer out or so that they can get timely access to treatment.

So we absolutely need to understand what type of resource, what type of planning, what kind of staffing we need to put into these services so that people like cancer patients who are waiting to see if their tumour might have grown or what their treatment plan might be, or people with a suspected cancer who are just trying to get in to get a diagnosis,

They need certainty.

They need predictability that they will be seen when they are expected to be seen.

It is, and thanks, Clare.

So the Irish Cancer Society has been asking the government to abolish car parking charges for cancer patients nationwide.

We have been asking about this for a very long time.

And the reason for this is when a person hears the words, you have cancer, they're confronted with so many different challenges, not least getting well and getting to their treatment on time, but then all these hidden costs they might not have been aware of before, like hospital car parking charges.

So at a time that they get their diagnosis,

many people have reported to us that they actually lose income.

And a previous study we did showed that this can be on average 1,500 a month.

So at a time that you're losing that income, you're confronting these new and additional charges.