‘We need a universal hardship fund for patients’

FINANCIAL support for people with longterm illnesses including cancer should be an election issue, according to a patients’ rights campaigner.

As the Irish Cancer Society comes under fire this week for announcing an end to their Financial Hardship Fund for adults, Stephen McMahon, head of the Irish Patients’ Association said the controversy highlights a broader underlying issue that needs to be tackled.

For him it showed how many people are suffering financially because of other lifethreatening illness, such as COPD or Motor Neurone Disease.

And cancer patients called RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline in their dozens, saying they use the money for travel, car-parking tickets and other hospital-related costs.

Mr McMahon said: ‘It raises a serious issue that there are people who are encountering financial hardship with other types of illnesses, .

‘Maybe this is something that should be an item for political parties in the election to at least review how people in this situation could be better served.’

He added: ‘On the issue of the hardship fund, the Government should cover these costs. And from a patient’s view, if the State were to do that they would have to have a universal fund. There are people with COPD, Motor Neurone Disease and a lot of other equally demanding chronic illnesses.’

Research by the Irish Cancer Society last year found that patients spend an average of €862 extra per month. A spokeswoman has revealed the fund is 30 years old but they’ve paid out 87% of the money in the last ten years as the recession leaves patients struggling to cope.

Funded almost completely by donations, they blamed a fall in income for the cuts.