Breast cancer programme will swamp hospitals, warns consultant

EXISTING hospital services couldn’t cope with the full roll-out of the national breast screening programme, a specialist warned yesterday.

The national extension of BreastCheck, announced by Health Minister Micheál Martin yesterday, will mean that some 130,000 women aged from 50 to 64 years will be eligible for screening.

The programme expects to diagnose around 400 cancers annually when it is extended to Munster and Connacht in two years' time.