Professor Fidelma Flanagan:

We picked up where we left off. Screening is a rolling programme so we go into different areas. We are behind because we closed the programme for nine months. We continue where we left off and continue into these different areas. We move our mobile units accordingly. We leave different sites and move into the next site. We will always be behind by nine months or one year. It is really important to say that screening is for healthy, well women. The risk of breast cancer in that population is low. While we have lost the opportunity in that year to pick up early breast cancer, if women get the invitation to come to mammography, they must attend their appointment because the opportunity to pick up early breast cancer in that patient's journey still exists. My message, therefore, is that if women get their appointment, they should attend. If a woman feels symptoms, has any concern about something not feeling normal or feels a lump, she should not wait for her BreastCheck invitation but go to her doctor and be referred to our symptomatic services. That is the message we must get out rather than sitting and waiting knowing that we are already slightly behind in the screening process.