Waterford cancer patients forced to travel for hours for ‘essential scans’

Waterford cancer patients are being forced to travel for hours for “essential scans”, an Oireachtas meeting has heard.

The issue was raised by Waterford Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane during a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health.

He addressed the need for a PET scanner at University Hospital Waterford with the Irish Cancer Society and the National Cancer Control Programme.

Deputy Cullinane said: “I’ll pick up on that issue of PET scanners because we don’t have one in the South East other than [at] the private hospital.

“I know from parliamentary questions that I submitted that there is a business case submitted from University Hospital Waterford for a PET scanner.”

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A PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanner is a medical imaging device used to observe metabolic and biochemical activity inside the body.

Deputy Cullinane asked the members present to address the importance of having an accessible PET scanner.

“So just again to reinforce from your perspective how important they are. You say that they’re needed for an appropriate diagnosis and also it’s important in terms of early stages of detection.

“So if people are waiting too long for a PET scan, what potential consequences would there be for the patient if that was the case?

“Given in the South East and in Waterford, patients have to travel to Cork or Dublin if they can’t avail of the private PET scanner in Waterford,” he concluded.

In response, Dr Michael McCarthy, President of the Irish Society of Medical Oncology, explained the importance of the devices.

Mr McCarthy said: “The value of PET scan mostly is when you’re planning an aggressive - usually curative - treatment for a patient.

“You don’t want to put somebody through a treatment with that level of toxicity if their cancer is more advanced than we realise.

“I treat head and neck cancer and cervical cancer. Two common curative modalities for those cancers are concurrent chemo radiotherapy.

“It would be better for the patients if we had the capacity to know at our MDT when we’re planning care for individual patients if we knew that we could get access to a PET scan within a week or two,” he added.
After the meeting, David Cullinane said that “cancer patients in the South East shouldn’t have to travel hours for essential scans”.

“Government must deliver,” the Sinn Féin Health Spokesperson added.

Members of the Irish Cancer Society and the National Cancer Control Programme both appeared at the meeting to give evidence regarding cancer services and funding.

They raised concerns about younger women being diagnosed with breast cancer and cancer-treatment delays.

They also sought clarity on how cancer services will be funded in Budget 2026 and flagged concerns about the decentralisation of cancer-service funding.