Boyd Barrett calls for new radiation oncology machines that ‘gave my life back’

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Richard Boyd Barrett raised concerns with outdated hospital machinery as he returned to the Dáil after receiving treatment for throat cancer.

The People Before Profit TD for Dún Laoghaire received a round of applause from the Dáil as he addressed the chamber for the first time since his treatment.

The 58-year-old revealed in April that he had been diagnosed with cancer and stepped back from politics for several months.

On his return to address the Dáil in Leaders’ Questions, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy welcomed Mr Boyd Barrett back.

“Everybody is absolutely thrilled to hear that your treatment went well, and you’re looking so well,” she said.

“Maybe you’re somewhat quieter, we’ll have to judge that as we go.”

“It’s good to be back,” Mr Boyd Barrett replied.

“And particularly good to be back in the aftermath of the successful campaign of Catherine Connolly, and can I congratulate her in her position as our new President?

“It’s also good to be back on the day that a socialist gets elected in New York – signs of hope and portents of the future.”

He added: “Can I also just thank colleagues across the house for kind words today, but also messages during, before, after my treatment? And also to thousands of members of the public who sent very, very kind messages to me. They were really very, very heartening and very helpful.”

Mr Boyd Barrett used his return to politics to raise hospital staff’s concerns with outdated radiology machines used to treat his cancer.

He said that the staff at St Luke’s Hospital and the Eye and Ear Hospital had asked him to raise issues about resourcing cancer services in Ireland.

Mr Boyd Barrett said that 50 per cent of people in Ireland will have an encounter with cancer in their lifetime and 44,000 people will receive a cancer diagnosis this year.

“There’s a very particular issue for me and for the people who provided me with the care in St Luke’s in the area of radiation oncology machines. They’re called linear accelerators; they basically have given me my life back.

“Fifty per cent of those very high figures who get a cancer diagnosis each year will need these machines.

“Fairly incredibly, 35 per cent of those machines, which are supposed to be replaced every 10 years, are now 15 to 17 years old. Forty per cent will need to be replaced in the next five years.”

Mr Boyd Barrett said that 16 of 24 working days last month were affected by unscheduled downtime because machines broke down, which put “stress on patients and staff”.

He called for a national radiotherapy replacement programme so that healthcare workers do not have to argue for machinery that can save lives to be replaced each year.

Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said he would ask Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to respond to his specific query about radiation therapy.

“I share with you the focus on ensuring that our health infrastructure, in terms of radiation oncology machines, or indeed, building better bed capacity across our health system, is achieved in the next five years,” he said.

“That’s the work that we’re doing around the sector investment plan with the HSE.”

He said that the National Cancer Strategy had delivered “improved outcomes” for the Irish population.

“If you look at the data over two to three decades, we’ve had a transformation in improvement over the last number of years. But I will ask Minister Carroll MacNeill to respond to your specific question around radiation oncology.

“I believe there is a significant scope over the next five years, through the investment we put aside in the National Development Plan to have a significant replacement for a lot of the health equipment which is required.”