Edwin Poots cancer story shows good and bad of NI health system

Mr Poots was in hospital for an unconnected perforated appendix, but the thoroughness of staff examining a scan discovered the growth in his kidney that might otherwise have remained undetected for some time.

However, the delays in Mr Poots first obtaining an appointment with a consultant, and now waiting for a surgery date to remove the kidney, are an example of how the system is failing too many people in Northern Ireland.

Mr Poots’ prognosis is good, the cancer hasn’t spread to other major organs and the delay to surgery shouldn’t ultimately affect his long-term prospects.

However, thousands of people are not, as Mr Poots himself pointed out in this newspaper yesterday, in as fortunate a position. Covid-19 has diverted key resources away from critical cancer care and health chiefs, and minister Robin Swann, can’t argue otherwise. The impact could be catastrophic for many, because every day can be critical for the life prospects of cancer sufferers awaiting diagnosis and treatment.

In a statement to the News Letter, Mr Swann pointed to the historic underfunding of the health service in Northern Ireland, an underfunding which has left our system more vulnerable than other countries to the effects of Covid-19.

It is crucial in the short term that everyone requiring urgent medical treatment gets it and it’s entirely right that the military are now to provide assistance in our hospitals. Every effort must also be made to prioritise ‘red flag’ cancers.

Equally, this is a long-term crisis Stormont must get to grips with. Health is the most important department in government and it should be treated as such. As Mr Swann said yesterday, the draft budget published by Conor Murphy, the finance minister, was not the first step on the road to the rebuild that our health service desperately needs.