Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator White for raising this issue again in the Seanad.BreastCheck is now in its 16th year and currently offers a free mammogram every two years to women aged 50 to 64. Under BreastCheck, more than 1.3 million mammograms have been provided to more than 478,000 women, and more than 8,300 cancers have been detected. Last November, I announced the extension of BreastCheck to the 65 to 69 age group, in keeping with EU guidelines. The age extension will be complete by 2021. The additional eligible population is approximately 100,000 and, when the programme is fully implemented, 540,000 women will be included in the BreastCheck programme. Due to the number of people who will be added to the breast screening service and the fact that women are screened on a two-year cycle, the task of extending the age cohort is a major logistical and operational undertaking. This is why the age extension will be implemented on an incremental basis in line with the capacity of the service to manage the additional screening and follow-up workload.

The National Screening Service will need to recruit and train additional radiographers, medical consultants and administrative support to accommodate the increased demand for the BreastCheck programme. Funding for this and for additional mobile units and medical equipment will be made available across the implementation period. A provision of €100,000 was made to commence implementation in the final quarter of 2015.

Breast cancer survival in Ireland has improved significantly in recent years, with the five-year survival rate now estimated at 81% for women diagnosed between 2006 and 2011. This is an increase from 72% for women diagnosed between 1994 and 1999. The increase is due to a combined approach of screening, symptomatic detection and improved treatment.

The national cancer control programme has focused on improving the quality of cancer services through reorganisation and expansion and by applying best practice in areas such as prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment. Surgery has been reorganised into the eight designated cancer centres, and full breast cancer services are also provided at Letterkenny General Hospital as a satellite of University Hospital Galway. Referral guidelines for GPs have also been developed to achieve a more effective and integrated service. In June 2015, I launched the national clinical guidelines on the diagnosis, staging and treatment of patients with breast cancer. Clinical effectiveness is fundamental to our health service, and implementing good-quality clinical guidelines and audit can improve health outcomes for patients, reduce variations in practice and improve the quality of clinical decisions.

In conclusion, I am committed to extending BreastCheck to those aged 65 to 69 on a phased basis between now and 2021. It is necessary to do this on an incremental basis in line with the capacity of the service to manage the additional screening of approximately 100,000 women and then to follow them up properly. If BreastCheck managers believe the process can be done more quickly, they will have my support, but I will not rush them. If the process is rushed, the standards may fall. I regret that the Senator felt led astray or deceived in any way but I was very clear in my budget statement that week as to what was happening. It was also made very clear in the service plan published in November. I certainly would encourage the Senator to inform herself fully by reading those speeches and the service plan before coming to conclusions. It may be the case that she was not led astray or deceived but rather that she was not fully informed.