Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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319. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the roll-out of BreastCheck for women of 65 to 69 years of age; how many women availed of this service in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1875/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The implementation of the age extension of BreastCheck to 65-69 year olds commenced in Quarter 4 of 2015. BreastCheck invited 1,000 women in this age category for screening in 2015 and approximately 500 of these were screened before the end of the year.

The age extension is being implemented on an incremental basis, in line with the capacity of the system to manage the additional screening and follow up workload. The additional eligible population is approximately 100,000 and, when fully implemented, 540,000 women will be included in the BreastCheck Programme.

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.