Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach very much for embracing the pink today. It is great to see it on him and on all our colleagues here. I also thank Senator McGreehan for giving me the opportunity to update the House on this important matter. I understand how important it is.

This Government is fully committed to supporting our population screening programmes which are a valuable part of our health service. As the Senator will know, BreastCheck, along with other cancer screening programmes, was temporarily paused last year due to the impact of Covid-19. The capacity in BreastCheck was also impacted by the cyberattack on the HSE. It should also be noted that, even when screening was paused, the programme continued to operate follow-up clinics and the national screening service is working to maximise the screening invitation rate within the current environment. The programme has done a significant amount of work to support the safe resumption of breast screening. The focus of the resumption includes the management of capacity across the whole of the screening pathway, which includes follow-up assessment and treatments. I am happy to report that routine screening appointments are now returning to normal with approximately 59,000 women screened between January and July of this year. This exceeded the target of 49,000 and more than 10,000 participants were screened in August 2021.

Due to the impact of Covid-19 and the pause in screening in 2020 and again earlier this year, BreastCheck appointments are delayed by up to one year. It will take approximately three years to get through this current screening round, which normally takes about two years. However, this is still within international norms as countries such as England only screen every three years. Women who have been waiting the longest will be invited first. The national screening service is now working hard to return to breast screening every two years in a safe manner.BreastCheck provides lots of information for the public on its website breastcheck.ie. This includes educational materials to encourage women to be aware of general breast health and, crucially, the common symptoms they should seek medical advice for. It runs social and digital media campaigns and provides valuable information on their website, including regular updates relating to Covid-19.

As Senators might be aware, and as Senator McGreehan said, October is breast cancer awareness month. The national screening service and the HSE have planned an extensive media campaign to highlight key details about screening during Covid-19, breast cancer prevention and symptom awareness. Some €10 million additional funding was provided to the HSE for cancer screening in 2021. These important new developments will help increase capacity and enable screening of individuals who had to defer their appointments because of Covid-19. This includes two new mobile screening units for BreastCheck planned for Donegal and Dublin.

In line with commitments in the programme for Government, BreastCheck is currently implementing an age-extension project that will see all women aged between 50 and 69 being invited for routine breast screening. As with all our national screening programmes, BreastCheck delivers its services in line with international criteria for population-based screening programmes that are kept under constant review. Again, I take this opportunity to emphasise that screening is for healthy people who do not have symptoms. People who are between screening appointments, or who are waiting for rescheduled appointments, are asked to be aware of symptoms. If they have concerns or worries, they should contact their GP who will arrange appropriate follow-up care.