Dr. Colm Henry:

As we announced before, the cervical cancer screening programme resumed in the first week of July with invitations issued in a phased and incremental way. We expect that all invitations suspended until that time will have been caught up on by the end of October and that any cases delayed during 2020 will be caught up on by March 2021.

Capacity in all three screening programmes depends on where the screening is done, the nature of the test and how or if it may facilitate transmission of Covid, and the dependencies. For example, in the BowelScreen programme the test is done at home but the main dependency is the availability of a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is a procedure and a service that has a reduced capacity for delivery because of the infection prevention and control measures that are necessary in the Covid environment. We are aiming to resume that screening programme at the end of September, as with BreastCheck. BreastCheck was supporting symptomatic breast care services during the first phase of the pandemic and it will be resuming all services at the end of September. Some 70% of BreastCheck screenings are delivered through mobile vans. These require repurposing to bring them into line with the infection prevention and control measures required for the delivery of healthcare in a Covid environment.