New report highlights priorities for the next National Cancer Strategy amid growing pressure on Ireland’s cancer system
The Swedish Institute for Health Economics (IHE) recently presented the ‘Cancer Dashboard for Ireland’, a report commissioned and funded by MSD, offering an evidence-based picture of how cancer care in Ireland is performing and where further progress is needed. The report shows Ireland must act decisively to strengthen cancer prevention, early detection, diagnostics, workforce capacity and research integration if it is to build on recent improvements in survival rates and meet growing demand.
Cancer remains the leading cause of death in Ireland, responsible for almost a third of all deaths nationally. In 2022 alone, 25,540 new cancer cases were diagnosed, with cancer incidence continuing to rise year-on- year and increasing pressure across the health system.
With Ireland due its next National
Cancer Strategy for 2027-2036, the Cancer Dashboard for Ireland report findings come at a critical moment for policy-makers. The analysis shows that without decisive action on prevention, early detection, diagnostics, workforce capacity, data infrastructure and access to research, Ireland risks stalling hard won gains in cancer survival at a time when demand on services continues to grow.
The report remarks on early detection as a critical challenge. While participation in national screening programmes is one of the most effective levers for improving outcomes, uptake in Ireland during the period studied remains uneven:
- Breast cancer screening participation stands at 70 per cent, above the EU average but below leading countries such as Denmark.
- Cervical screening coverage has reached 75 per cent, short of the national 80 per cent target, with significant regional variation.
- BowelScreen participation remains lower again at 46 per cent, with particularly low uptake among first- time invitees and men.
Precision medicine
Challenges also persist in diagnostics and precision medicine. While Ireland has made progress in building genomics infrastructure, access to advanced biomarker testing using next-generation sequencing remains fragmented. Ireland’s availability of CT, MRI and PET scanners, during the period studied, is approximately 23 per cent below the EU average, raising concerns about timely diagnosis and
The report findings also importantly point to a cancer system that remains unevenly configured, with experience and outcomes continuing to depend on where and how patients enter the system
system capacity as demand continues to grow.
The report findings also importantly point to a cancer system that remains unevenly configured, with experience and outcomes continuing to depend on where and how patients enter the system. The Dashboard highlights persistent variation across care pathways, reflecting differences in capacity, integration and co-ordination between services and centres.
While progress has been made in recent years, the report underlines that greater consistency in national planning and delivery will be essential if Ireland is to sustain and build on improvements in cancer outcomes over the next decade.
Clinical trials
One area where this variation is particularly evident is clinical trials. The Dashboard identifies trials as a critical but underdeveloped pillar of Ireland’s cancer system. While participation in trials can offer patients earlier access to innovation and strengthen clinical learning and research excellence, access to clinical trials in Ireland remains inconsistent, limiting their role as an integral part of routine care and with Ireland trailing behind comparable European countries in this area.
The report points to this as a missed opportunity and calls for more consistent national integration of trials into care pathways, alongside stronger leadership and better leveraging of existing EU funding mechanisms to expand participation and capacity.
The analysis also points to workforce pressures as a growing risk. Although consultant numbers have increased in recent years, Ireland continues to have fewer specialist physicians per capita than the EU average, and nearly half of consultant posts take more than 18 months to fill during the period studied. These pressures, combined with rising cancer incidence, risk undermining timely access to care. In addition, access to innovation is also identified as critical during the period studied, with only 25 per cent of EMA-approved cancer medicines from 2020 to 2023 reimbursed in Ireland — as of January 2025, the lowest rate in Western Europe.
Addressing gaps
Prof William Gallagher at the All-Island Cancer Research Institute said: “This report highlights both the progress Ireland has made in cancer care and the real challenges that remain ahead. While outcomes have improved, Ireland continues to lag behind comparable European countries. Addressing these gaps will be essential if we are to deliver equitable, high-quality cancer care for all patients and ensure the next National Cancer Strategy is grounded in evidence as well as a long-term, sustainable system that’s designed for today and for the future.”
The Cancer Dashboard for Ireland forms part of the IHE’s wider European Cancer Dashboards initiative, designed to support policy-makers by translating complex data into practical insights that guide cancer planning, prioritisation and reform across Europe.
The report sets out a series of high- level recommendations to support the next phase of cancer policy in Ireland as the current National Cancer Strategy concludes. These include expanding screening age ranges in line with EU recommendations; strengthening targeted outreach to underserved groups; accelerating the rollout of digital health records to improve data transparency and decision making; and bolstering cancer workforce capacity and ensuring timely, equitable access to effective cancer medicines and diagnostics.
