Fears Breast Cancer Screening Levels Won't Be Met

A Meath-West TD says the the new figures are worrying.

BreastCheck isn't on track to meet pre-pandemic screening levels this year, according to new figures.  

The HSE says just under 23,500 women were screened in January and February.

That compares to an average of nearly 28,500 every two months in 2019 - before Covid greatly reduced screening levels. 

Nearly 44,000 fewer women were screened for breast cancer last year than in 2019.

Aontu leader and Meath-West TD Peadar Tóibín says the new figures are very worrying:

Statement from BreastCheck:

During the first two months of 2022 BreastCheck was continuing to operate under COVID-19  restrictions. Public health restrictions and infection prevention control measures in place limited the number of women that could be accommodated in our units.

Also during this period, screening services, in line with the whole of the HSE, experienced high staff absence rates due  to high levels of COVID-19 infection in the community. Further, there was a high rate of  COVID-19-related missed or cancelled appointments among those attending the service – often at short notice – meaning the appointment could not be offered to another woman. 
Restrictions were eased on 28 February 2022; however, Infection Prevention Control  measures which impact capacity remain in place in healthcare settings.
BreastCheck screening targets are set each year based on a number of factors. Screening  targets are published each year in the HSE’s operational plan. Screening targets for 2022 were developed to take account of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the 
ongoing restrictions and the high level of COVID-19 in the community, a ‘return to normal’ for 
screening levels was not forecast for 2022.
Regrettably, we were forced to pause our services twice during the pandemic. We have lost  approximately a year of screening time and while we work to catch up we are focusing our efforts on the women who are most at risk, i.e. those who have never attended for screening 
and those who have been due screening the longest. 
Appointments in our current screening round (where we normally invite women for screening once every two years) are delayed by up to a year. During this time, Ireland will be more in line with England, which screens women every three years. However, we aim to return to screening 
women every two years as soon as possible. This is dependent on the situation with COVID-19 
and the global challenge of staff recruitment in radiology and radiography.
During the pause in breast screening services, BreastCheck staff were temporarily redeployed  into symptomatic and other services, including the response to COVID-19. Support was provided to assess and treat women who were at high-risk of breast cancer, and whose hospital appointments had been delayed because of COVID-19. This temporary redeployment of services enabled high-risk patients who had symptoms to be seen quicker, with the aim of improving the outcome of any diagnosis during a time when breast health resources were 
constrained. 
Screening is for people who are presumed well and do not have symptoms. Women who have symptoms have been shown to have a significantly higher rate of cancer, and more time dependent diagnosis, than the well women who are invited for screening. Screening involves inviting well women into a healthcare environment where they may be at higher risk of  contracting COVID-19. Understandably, some women have made the choice not to return to  breast screening at this time.
BreastCheck has met the many challenges posed by COVID-19 while working to increase  capacity and uptake. Our focus on increasing uptake includes these recent developments: 
• We have funded a text messaging system to support infection control and improve uptake so that more women may avail of breast screening 
• We have funded a large-scale communications campaign which informs women of the  action they can take to ensure every appointment slot is filled – focusing on increasing  uptake and maximising capacity
• We have funded three new, fully kitted-out BreastCheck mobile units, which will have  the effect of increasing capacity to drive uptake. All three new mobiles are now commissioned and in service; however, ongoing infection prevention control measures  including social distancing continue to affect our capacity
• We are actively recruiting radiography and radiology staff, while noting that staff recruitment remains a global challenge in these specialities. For example, in breast screening, it takes up to 15 years to train a radiologist, and 10 years to train a radiographer
• We have created new easy-read leaflets and funded a suite of multilingual videos in migrant languages to explain to women in these communities the screening options  available to them
• We are working with Traveller advocacy groups to increase uptake of breast screening for women in the Traveller community
• We are working with NCCP to create new information for women in the screened population on reducing their risk of cancer through prevention and early detection