Member's statement: Cancer Treatment: Equal Access to Services
Member's statement by Mrs Ciara Ferguson on .
- MLA
- Mrs Ciara Ferguson
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 17 June 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Cancer Treatment: Equal Access to Services
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5013416
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise to talk briefly about equal access to services for people with cancer. Previously, I wrote to the Minister about the provision of cold caps for the treatment of cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced alopecia. The response indicated that, due to system pressures, their introduction was not being routinely commissioned or prioritised, despite the fact that they are available across the Twenty-six Counties and GB. Additionally, I queried projected annual staffing costs and a timeline for the delivery of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy — a precision-targeting form of radiotherapy — for the North West Cancer Centre, which has the equipment. I was advised that, given annual staffing costs, costs could be in the region of £284,000 to recruit therapeutic radiographers and medical physicians to support the service. A lack of identified funding means that no timeline for introduction can be provided. I raise the issue today because several local people have contacted me about income-based health inequalities. They have voiced serious frustrations that, at such a difficult time in their life, only those who can afford to go privately have options available to them in relation to cancer treatments. While I fully appreciate the need for sustained investment in primary and community care and in various specialised services, as an MLA for Foyle and vice-chair of the all-party group on cancer I have to speak up for my constituents across Derry city and the north-west who face significant health and social inequalities. I ask the Minister and his Department to explore ways, particularly in the context of the north-west, to strengthen cross-border collaboration on healthcare, to be more innovative and to work more closely on the treatment of cancers in order to deliver better experiences for patients across our small island. That includes supporting the All-Ireland Cancer Network and the development of improved cancer policy and research alongside meeting the existing need for additional services, including those that I have outlined, which, so far, have been refused. I urge the Minister to reconsider whether those services can be implemented to support the delivery of the key principle of universal health coverage so that our citizens have access to the full range of services where and when they need them.
368 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.62 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.27 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.04 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.04 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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