Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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30. To ask the Minister for Health the reason the increase of five years, in the age range for BreastCheck, will take six years to be fully rolled out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8038/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Planning for the age extension of BreastCheck to 65 - 69 year olds is under way and screening of the extended cohort will commence in Quarter 4 of 2015. The additional eligible population is approximately 100,000 and, when 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 process, 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 challenge for the service. The age extension will be implemented on an incremental basis, in line with the capacity of the system to manage the additional screening and follow-up workload. As part of this, the National Screening Service will need to recruit and train additional radiographers, medical consultants and administration 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. The age extension will be fully rolled out by 2021.

Women of any age who have concerns about breast cancer should seek the advice of their GP who will, if appropriate, refer them to the symptomatic breast services in one of the eight designated cancer centres.