Sinn Féin MLA Aoife Finnegan has called for urgent action to improve access to life-saving CAR T-cell cancer treatment for patients in the north and to end the hardship caused by forcing seriously ill people to travel to England for care that can be delivered on this island.
Speaking today, Aoife Finnegan MLA confirmed she had written to Health Minister Mike Nesbitt urging immediate engagement with the Department of Health in Dublin to allow patients to access the Apheresis stage of CAR T-cell treatment which is available in Dublin.
“At present, cancer patients from the north are being forced to travel to England for the initial five-hour Apheresis procedure – often returning the same day – despite being gravely ill. This causes enormous physical and emotional strain, exacerbating the serious illness, and in some tragic cases, has deterred patients from completing treatment,” she said.
“The heartbreaking and tragic experience of Catherine Sherry, and her family, has brought this issue into sharp focus. Catherine’s journeys to England and back, while seriously ill, placed unbearable stress on Catherine and her family. Catherine tragically passed away in London, separated from her loving family, when she should have been receiving this treatment here, in Ireland.
“The reality is that all samples are processed in the same European laboratory, and Dublin hospitals already have the necessary capacity and meet the required clinical standards. There is no reason why these procedures cannot be offered to everyone on the island.”
Finnegan said Sinn Féin is pressing for all-island collaboration on healthcare to deliver compassionate, accessible care to all patients, regardless of where they live, and to improve the efficiency of health care provision on the island.
“We need a system that works for people — not one divided by outdated borders or administrative barriers. Access to treatment should be based on need.
Finnegan also welcomed the intervention of her party colleague, Senator Conor Murphy, who raised Catherine Sherry’s case at the Good Friday Agreement Committee during engagement with officials from the Shared Island Initiative.
“Conor rightly called on the Taoiseach’s office and the Department of Health to prioritise this issue. No seriously ill person should have to fly across the water for treatment that is available just an hour down the road. That is simply unacceptable.
Finnegan confirmed that her party colleague, Dáire Hughes MP, has invited Catherine Sherry’s husband to act as a witness at a future meeting of the Good Friday Agreement Committee, to share his family’s experience, ensure the human cost of policy failures are fully heard and to accelerate and propel the change that is needed.
“Sinn Féin is using every lever available, north and south, to highlight the gaps in our healthcare system and work to close them. Accessible, high-quality healthcare should be a right for all on this island.
“Even sparing one family the trauma Catherine and hers went through would be a meaningful step forward. But we should be ambitious. Let’s build a compassionate, modern, all-island healthcare system that puts patients from every corner of this island first.
“Cross-border cooperation on health saves lives but it requires political will from the north’s Health Minister and the Government in Dublin to remove these policies of exclusion and deliver a healthcare system that works for all.
“Sinn Féin is fully committed to delivering a healthcare system that works for every person right across Ireland, both north and south. We will work hard to advance the all-island health agenda for the benefit of patients, families and workers all across Ireland.”
CRÍOCH / ENDS
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