Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this important issue on the Adjournment. There has been great difficulty rolling out BreastCheck. It was rolled out for half the country in 2000 but not for the other half of the population. No marks are given for guessing that the half of the population covered was on the east coast area, while the south and the west were left without this essential service. I have calculated that since the roll-out in 2000, a minimum of 60 women have died each year as a result of the unavailability of the service in their area. Therefore, since 2000 this amounts to a minimum of 500 women.

I was pleased to hear, as I am sure the Minister of State will confirm, that the roll-out of BreastCheck is on schedule and that it will be completed in the final quarter of 2007. I was pleased to hear too that BreastCheck is interested in providing a mobile service before then. The Minister for Health and Children has been anxious to provide this service, which is helpful. However, I understand the mobile unit will serve more as a facility for testing equipment and will only screen 40 women.

The question must be asked as to why the service was not provided long ago. No excuse can be given for the fact that so many women have died while waiting for the service. In 2003, the Galway clinic offered to provide a BreastCheck service until such a time as BreastCheck proper was up and running. That offer was refused because the Galway clinic offered a digital service while the BreastCheck service was an analogue service. However, since then BreastCheck has gone digital. Therefore, there is no reason not to allow the Galway clinic offer a temporary service in the meantime. People have died because of the lack of a service. The plan was to put BreastCheck in place in the region in 2004, but there has already been a delay of three years. The design team was approved on 5 May 2005. I suggest the delay in implementing the plan is due to the lack of funding. Money was not spent to allow the BreastCheck service to be rolled out.

My maiden speech in the Dáil was on the need for the Government to expand the BreastCheck service, but of course that has not happened. I was also responsible for the board and executive of BreastCheck being called before the Joint Committee on Health and Children to explain the delay. I also organised a march in 2003 on the issue. I cancelled a march that was due to take place at the end of last year because, having met the board of BreastCheck, I was told nothing I would do would advance the roll-out further.

There has been the offer of a mobile unit, but this would have been on offer in any case before the roll-out in any area. There is a problem with regard to the roll-out of the service. I believe many of the staff required are not in place or available. Many of the clinical staff required are in America and will not be back until the end of the year. We already have a major problem in UCHG where theatre time is not available for essential treatment. I am aware of ten cases of people waiting to have prostate implants to treat their cancer. Breast cancer surgery has also been cancelled in the hospital in the past few weeks because of the lack of theatre space. This is a real problem and I wonder how it will be addressed. I hope it will be addressed. The system is overburdened. I am also concerned that holiday time is approaching, which may mean delays in treatment for these cancer cases. However, I welcome the promise to roll out the service.

I ask the Minister to take on board the proposal that women up to the age of 70 should be screened. Currently, women from 50 to 64 years of age are screened. There is capacity in the Galway static unit, which will be completed in September, to provide the service up to that age. It is not practical to do that until the first cycle is completed in 2009. The Minister should work towards injecting necessary money into this area. Screening should start at 40 years of age because 11% of breast cancer cases occur in women aged between 40 and 49.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking the Adjournment debate on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney.

I welcome the opportunity to address the issues raised by the Deputy and to set out the current position on the roll-out of the national breast screening programme in the west. I can confirm that BreastCheck screening will commence in the west from next April. My colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, has met with representatives of BreastCheck. They are fully aware of her wish to have a quality assured programme rolled out to the remaining regions in the country as quickly as possible. For this to happen, essential elements of the roll-out must be in place, including adequate staffing, effective training and quality assurance programmes.

At a recent meeting with the Minister, BreastCheck reported on the significant progress that has been made in preparation for the roll-out in the west. The Minister approved additional funding of €8 million for this year. This is for BreastCheck to meet the additional costs of roll-out and an additional 69 posts have been approved. The clinical director for the western region took up her position last November. BreastCheck has recently appointed three consultant radiologists, two consultant surgeons and two consultant histopathologists, all with a special interest in breast disease. The recruitment of radiographers and other staff is under way. These are the essential multidisciplinary staff required to implement a quality assured breast screening programme and primary treatment programme.

The Minister has also made available an additional €26.7 million capital funding for the construction of two new clinical units and the provision of five additional mobile units and state-of-the-art digital equipment. The BreastCheck clinical unit in the western area at University College Hospital Galway will have two associated mobile units and is on schedule for hand-over in September followed by a three-week commissioning period.

The expansion of screening to the west will take place in advance of the commissioning of the static unit. This expansion will cover counties Galway, Sligo, Roscommon, Donegal, Mayo, Leitrim, Clare and Tipperary North Riding. There are approximately 58,000 women in the target age group in these counties.

A breast screening programme is a complex multidisciplinary undertaking that requires considerable expertise and management involving population registers, call-recall systems, mammography, pathology and appropriate treatment and follow up. A programme must be quality assured and acceptable to women who attend for screening.

The first phase of the programme is of a high quality and a similar quality in the west is essential. BreastCheck is committed to the earliest possible provision of quality assured screening in the west. In response to a request from the Minister for Health and Children, BreastCheck is to achieve the early deployment of a mobile unit in a location in the west in accordance with her target date of the end of April. BreastCheck is putting all of the elements in place to meet the April roll-out. BreastCheck expects to confirm details of the actual roll-out in early April.

The Minister wishes to acknowledge the significant efforts of the staff at BreastCheck to deliver on the commitments to the west. The expansion involves existing professional and management staff at BreastCheck who have shown considerable leadership in supporting this roll-out.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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It is welcome but it is not a full roll-out and will not be until October.