Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Cancer Screening Programmes: Discussion

9:00 am

Professor Ann O'Doherty:

Yes. In answer to the first question, the interval cancer reviews are not patient-centred but programme-centred in order to determine the interval cancer rates. That has been happening since the outset of the programme for 20 years. We do not contact patients retrospectively when we carry out the review. We have a very open policy. If patients want to know about their breast cancer when they present to the treating surgeon, we will do it but we do not trigger it automatically. We have had the benefit of the UK experience being shared with us. Only 45% of women have requested open disclosure since the UK brought it in. It is important that if we are to have open disclosure we make sure the woman wants it and that we have counselling services available. It has not historically been part of any UK or European programme. We are not doing anything in this programme that has not been part of established practice and that is not in the published literature. In every aspect of this programme we have mirrored international best practice. No other programme contacts women cold. For many of these women it would have been a long time ago. Unless they have requested it this takes quite a long time to filter through. I am not at all reticent about telling women. We are very happy to feed the information back to any woman who has requested it. It has not been a part of any other screening service anywhere in the world.

I cannot recall the final question, there were several.

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