Marie Curie comments on Northern Ireland Cancer Strategy

In response to the publication of the new 10-year Northern Ireland Cancer Strategy from the Department of Health, Joan McEwan, Head of Policy for Marie Curie Northern Ireland and Co-Chair of the Cancer Strategy Palliative and End of Life Care workstream, said:

Marie Curie warmly welcomes the publication of the new 10-year Cancer Strategy. The strategy has the potential to make an enormous difference to palliative and end of life cancer care across Northern Ireland – ensuring more people living with incurable cancer can access the care and support they need, when they need it.

Publication of the strategy is an important step, but we now need to secure the long-term funding required to make it a success. Cancer experts, patients and their loved ones have come together over a number of years to design this new roadmap for cancer services, but we won't realise the ambitions of that roadmap without robust funding from a multi-year Executive budget. We're reiterating the call, made by so many local stakeholders already, for the Executive to be re-established urgently after May's election, so that strategically important projects like the Cancer Strategy can be delivered in full.