Dr. Colm Henry:

There has been much discussion on this recently, with a focus on screening but also diagnostic pathways. The fact is that screening programmes are at best 80% to 90% sensitive. That is more effectively communicated to people now. In breast screening, for instance, the best-case scenario is 90% sensitivity in picking up. We had a useful discussion at a hearing here before on the importance of people not seeing screening programmes as a diagnostic pathway. An all-clear from a screening test does not mean that symptoms are insignificant. It is really important that people understand that about the development of symptoms, even if someone has received an all-clear. The two are completely different.