Drift or vision: where next for cancer services in Northern Ireland?

'All jurisdictions in the UK and Republic of Ireland have, or are in the process of, updating their cancer strategies. The exception is Northern Ireland, which published its strategy almost ten years ago.'

A paper published in June by the Assembly’s Research and Information Service captured the issues we face in adequately addressing cancer here. It captures what we all know, that ministerial cancer waiting time targets continue to be missed; that workforce issues account for diagnostic delays for cancer patients. However, perhaps the most significant observation made in the report is that Northern Ireland’s cancer strategy is almost 10 years old.

We are all too aware that public resources are finite. But, surely, this is all the more reason to ensure that limited funds are spent strategically, in accordance with an overarching vision for cancer care and guaranteeing maximum impact. In the meantime, we observe perpetual drift, from crisis to crisis, in cancer care, along with an apparent lack of energy and motivation towards achieving world-class standards for Northern Ireland’s citizens.

The leading cancer charities here have all been actively lobbying for this situation to be addressed. Indeed, for some, this was the core platform of their cancer manifestos for the 2016 Assembly elections, and, yet, still no change.

As with so many other policy areas, the absence of an Assembly and an Executive to sign off on new policies adds to the sense that we are experiencing a policy vacuum. Nonetheless, the Research and Information Service is to be commended for showing leadership by compiling the key data in relation to cancer. However, it will be for others, not least the All Party Group on Cancer, which, incidentally, can still meet even if the Assembly's Health Committee can't, to lead the charge for the new, ambitious cancer strategy that can provide the inspiration for change.

It is imperative that what appears to have developed into an implicitly defeatist cancer narrative, one accepting that people living here will always wait longer for treatment or will not have equal access to new medicines in contrast to their counterparts in neighbouring jurisdictions, is halted in its tracks.

There is no shortage of truly inspirational leaders involved in the cancer world – from world-class clinicians, to charity leaders and the patients themselves. Sadly, the policy context, or lack thereof, and the absence of any overarching ambition and road map to aim higher means that we continue to slide. Vision, not drift, will lead to improved cancer outcomes.