Clune calls on the HSE to make cancer counselling more readily available

Ireland South MEP, Deirdre Clune, has called on the HSE to make cancer counselling more readily available.

“The psychological wellbeing of a patient who has just been told that they have cancer is paramount. Fighting cancer requires a great deal of emotional and psychological strength and whilst we have made great inroads in cancer care in Ireland in the past ten years, the health service focuses more on the illness in isolation rather than the cancer patient.

“We know that 4 out of 10 cancer patients seek professional counselling within a year of diagnosis. An Irish Cancer Society report on community-based services also found that more than one in 4 patients needed counselling within two years of diagnosis. Coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis can be traumatic. For most people “cancer” is a big word and they fail to realise that survival rates, for the most part, are excellent.

“I have spoken to several constituents who have had serious cancer diagnosis where immediate counselling and information on counselling was not readily available. The patients had to go in search of voluntary organisations like the Irish Cancer society for structured and targeted cancer counselling to cope with the diagnosis.

“I am calling on the HSE to put a renewed focus on counselling for cancer patients and to engage more with voluntary groups that provide counselling. A patient should be referred for immediate counselling after any serious cancer diagnosis. They should not be told they have cancer and simply left to make their way home. What is needed here is more coordination between the various cancer care services so that people are helped to cope better.

“The impact of a cancer diagnosis on a family can be enormous. Financial and other worries can mean that families struggle to cope with something they know very little about. Very few families in Ireland are untouched by cancer and I think that we would benefit enormously as a community from a structured counselling cancer service that proactively offers counselling to cancer patients and their families.”