Ms Fiona Murphy:

No, it is pretty much the same. It was interesting that it was much lower towards the end of 2020. We had uptake of about 87% to 90%. That might have been because so many people had stayed at home for all of 2020 and they were worried and then came forward in the October to December period. We are now back, however, to approximately 70% uptake. It is about 70% to 72%. All screening programmes need an uptake of at least 70% to be effective, so we do try to encourage people to participate.

We have a group of people who did not attend previously and never wish to come. The uptake among that cohort is always low. Instead of sending them repeated reminders that might just annoy them and use up our appointments, we ask them to contact us instead. We have shifted the way we work so that we are maximising the resources we have available for people. The text system has been fantastic because it gives people a reminder a day or two before the appointment. They might have forgotten, because we send out appointments quite early.