Debate contribution: Cancer Services and Outcomes

Debate contribution by Mrs Diane Dodds on 18 November 2025.

MLA

Mrs Diane Dodds

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

18 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Cancer Services and Outcomes

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5244861

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

In introducing the debate today, I am aware that this is a sensitive issue. A cancer diagnosis is life-altering for both the patient and their family. Life is changed in that instant of diagnosis. I know that the House will treat the debate with sensitivity and compassion. The motion is not meant to diminish the incredible work of the clinicians and all those who work to provide care and support for those on a cancer journey. We know that patients who are receiving cancer care feel well supported by staff, and I put on record our thanks for their incredible work. All that being said, in the hope that we will make diagnoses, treatment and outcomes better for cancer patients, we should not shy away from hard facts. We all know that cancer does not wait. Every day, 28 people are diagnosed with cancer in Northern Ireland. While patients are waiting, they may lose curative options or become too sick to withstand treatment, and that is a harsh reality for too many. Cancer statistics in Northern Ireland are startling, but, in every statistic, there is a person — a mother, a daughter, a father, a son or grandparents — who are thrown into the scary world of cancer diagnosis and treatment. In the words of one woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer and who campaigns here regularly, "cancer changes you".

As I open the debate, I want the House to hear about one woman's cancer journey. She is not a statistic but a wife and a mother of young children. She is 41 years old. In January this year, she had a mammogram, and all was clear. In June, she found a lump under her arm, had to wait to see her GP and was red-flagged on 5 July. In week eight of her journey, after multiple phone calls, she received an outpatient appointment and had a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy. In week nine, on 28 August, she had a diagnosis of stage 2-3 cancer. In week 10, she received a CT and an MRI. In week 12, a PET scan confirmed a metastatic diagnosis: her cancer was now stage 4 and had spread to her lungs. In week 15, in October, she started treatment. She had to wait 112 days in total from her red-flag referral to treatment. The target set by the Department is 62 days. That, unfortunately, is not the only story of its kind. It represents the devastating impact that delays to treatment can have. In the quarter to June 2025, 840 patients — more than two thirds — waited longer than 62 days to start treatment. For comparison, 69% of patients in England and 70% of patients in Scotland were seen within 62 days. Our outcomes for two cancers are particularly startling. Of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in Northern Ireland, 31% will not survive one year after diagnosis. For patients with pancreatic cancer, outcomes are worrying, with the majority of patients being diagnosed at stage 4. Too many cancers are diagnosed late and through emergency admissions: 31·4% of stage 4 breast cancers are diagnosed via emergency admissions, and 56·7% of stage 4 lung cancers and 48·9% of stage 4 colorectal cancers are diagnosed too late. I am conscious of the fact that cancer diagnoses in Northern Ireland are rising, but that is also the case in England and Scotland. Minister, I suggest that we are suffering from a long-term failure to plan for the predicted rise and that, as a consequence, the wait for diagnosis and treatment has become longer and the outcomes for patients poorer. The 'British Medical Journal' records:

"Even a four week delay of cancer treatment is associated with increased mortality across surgical, systemic treatment, and radiotherapy indications for seven cancers"

and advises:

"Policies focused on minimising system level delays to cancer treatment initiation could improve population level survival outcomes."

It also records that, for 1,000 women with breast cancer, surgery delayed for four weeks would result in 10 additional deaths. An eight-week delay would equate to 20 additional deaths, and 12 weeks would see an additional 31 deaths. In light of the delay in regional breast cancer lists, Minister, and when it is crystallised in that way by clinicians who operate in the field, that is a serious issue. Minister, your budget contains a ring-fenced budget of £215 million for waiting lists. The House needs to hear how that is being managed. How has the £85 million set aside for red-flag cases been allocated? What is being done to identify the patients most at risk due to long waits and to prioritise them for diagnosis and treatment? What transformation resource is being deployed in the trusts to support waiting-time recovery? How are trust chief executives being held to account for trust performance? We need to see every patient's cancer journey tracked and the most urgent cases prioritised. Is there an official in your Department who has responsibility for those things? Of the rest of the £215 million, Minister, I know that £40 million was set aside for those who have been waiting for a procedure for more than four years. However, I have also been informed that £73·5 million has been taken away from waiting list initiatives and allocated to the deficit: is that accurate? The House deserves a straight answer on that important question. It is incredible that money designed to tackle the most appalling waiting lists could be used in that way. I say that with full acknowledgement that the Health budget is in significant difficulty. Taking £73·5 million away from waiting lists would be a serious breach with the people of Northern Ireland. I hope that you can clarify that for me, Minister, and that you will respond specifically to it in your remarks. Cancer waiting times such as we have in Northern Ireland would not be tolerated in England, and they should not be tolerated here. Sadly, I sometimes think that we have become numbed by waiting lists; the difficulty in getting the right and timely diagnosis; and all the hurdles that health bureaucracy seems to put in our way. We need to see system improvements here. Many patients whom I talk to are grateful for the care that they receive when they get into the system, but, as the debate shows, the real difficulty is with initial diagnosis and treatment. What is the plan, Minister? It would be morally indefensible to go on as we are. Will you complete a demand and capacity analysis so that money can be properly directed? Will you demand that trusts submit improvement plans for backlog clearance and show their plans to deal with future demand? Will you ensure that the long-term sustainability of cancer services is a priority on the agenda of the Health Department? Everyone in the Chamber wants to see better services for cancer patients. Cancer can touch all our lives. However, too many people struggle to access services, and waiting lists are, as Mark Taylor suggested when he took up his new post, a national scandal. Minister, it is time for action and system reform.

1,194 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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