BREASTCHECK CHIEF MEETS WITH PUBLIC REPRESENTATIVES IN KERRY
- 17 June 2009
BreastCheck – The National Breast Screening Programme today met Kerry’s public representatives at briefings in Dublin and Tralee to provide a detailed overview of the BreastCheck service and its benefits to women.
BreastCheck began providing free mammograms (breast x-rays) to women in Kerry in May 2009 and following initial high attendance rates, the number of women attending their appointments has significantly declined.
Tony O’Brien, CEO of the National Cancer Screening Service said today: “This worrying decrease in attendance has coincided with a series of public protests in relation to the removal of the symptomatic breast service at Kerry General Hospital.
“As part of the protests, false and damaging information about BreastCheck has been circulated. The purpose of these briefings is to ensure that accurate information about BreastCheck and its benefits is delivered to the 13,000 the women we are inviting for screening. A successful screening programme in Ireland can reduce mortality from breast cancers by 20-30%”, said Mr O’Brien.
“While the vast majority of women screened by BreastCheck are found to be perfectly healthy, to detect the maximum number of breast cancers, BreastCheck must receive a high attendance rate to screening by women. Anything that affects attendance rates to screening, can affect the maximum detection of breast cancers.
“BreastCheck has already detected a number of breast cancers in women screened in Tralee, and these women have received treatment. Early detection can save lives. However unless attendance rates improve, some breast cancers will go undetected.
“The BreastCheck service is entirely different to that previously provided at Kerry General Hospital and is not intended as a replacement. If the symptomatic service previously offered at Kerry General Hospital was in operation today, BreastCheck would still be providing the population based screening service to women aged 50-64 from a BreastCheck mobile digital screening unit to women in Co Kerry” he concluded.
BreastCheck is a population based, quality assured breast screening programme that provides free mammograms to women aged 50-64 on an area by area basis, every two years. The clinical-led BreastCheck programme aims to detect the maximum number of breast cancers at the earliest possible stage.
In May 2009, screening of women in Kerry began from a mobile digital screening unit located in the grounds of Kerry General Hospital, Tralee. Women from Tralee and surrounding areas are currently being invited for their free BreastCheck mammogram. It is expected that BreastCheck will continue screening women in Co Kerry for approximately 12 months until all 13,000 eligible women (aged 50-64) have been invited for screening.
The BreastCheck programme operates on a stringent system of quality assurance in line with international best practice guidelines. It is this focus on quality assurance in screening that has ensured that the women screened by BreastCheck can have confidence in the service they receive.
While it is internationally accepted that no screening system can be 100% accurate, BreastCheck aims to ensure that the screening service provided is as safe and effective as possible due to a wide range of quality assurance measures.
Quality assurance measures in place across the Programme include:
- The use of state of the art digital mammography equipment. The use of digital mammography has led to significant improvements in diagnostic accuracy, particularly for women with denser breast tissue, enabling the early detection of more breast cancers in the women screened by BreastCheck than ever before.
- Every BreastCheck mammogram (breast x-ray) is read independently by two separate, specially trained radiologists.
- A specialist multi-disciplinary team provides the screening service to women. This team involves consultants and medical staff including Anaesthetists, Histopathologists, Radiologists, Surgeons, Radiographers and Breast Care Nurses. Each member of the team has a specialist expertise and qualification in breast cancer and breast surgery.
- All mammograms are read by the radiology team based at the BreastCheck Southern Unit in Cork.
- All mammography equipment is wholly owned by BreastCheck.
- All equipment is subject to regular routine quality monitoring and auditing by a specialist BreastCheck team.
- No equipment currently used by BreastCheck is older than four years.
-Ends-
Note to Editors:
BreastCheck is part of the National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS), a fully funded agency of the Department of Health and Children. BreastCheck is provided free to women aged 50 to 64 throughout Ireland on an approximate two year cycle. All BreastCheck staff members are public sector employees.