Seanad debates

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Garret AhearnGarret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The HSE has published a new list of locations around the country served by BreastCheck vans. The service provided by the vans stopped during Covid for the last 18 months. Before Covid, it generally did a yearly visit to Tipperary and did all its checks in one visit. However, the new list which was published has no location in Tipperary. The Irish Cancer Society has said higher numbers of late-stage cancers are being diagnosed as a result of the screening delays caused by Covid-19. The longer we leave these services lapse, the more advanced cancer will spread. Early intervention is key. The HSE says the cyberattack has had a huge impact on cancer screening services, which is understandable, but patients in Tipperary should have been contacted months ago to attend screening services.

Women aged between 50 and 69 years are offered a mammogram every two years so women who were almost due their assessment when the pandemic began are waiting almost four years at this stage. The number of mammograms carried out by the HSE BreastCheck services fell by more than two thirds in 2020, leading to a detection of 600 fewer breast cancers. Some 56,000 women had a full mammogram last year compared with 170,000 in 2019. I ask the Leader to contact the HSE and ask that Tipperary be included in the schedule. Tipperary has two Covid vaccination centres, one in Clonmel and one in Nenagh. There used to be a BreastCheck van in Nenagh, but I would ask that it also come to Clonmel. It is very important. It is very significant. It is close to my heart. My mother passed away at a very young age from breast cancer, so it means a lot. The BreastCheck van detects about 1,050 cases of breast cancer every year, saving lives. It is very important that it be a relatively close distance from where people live. Tipperary is a massive county.

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