Breast screening to expand to South and West

A SIGNIFICANT breakthrough has been made in the long campaign to have the national breast screening programme expanded to include women from the South and West.

The rollout of the programme, which has been operating in the East, North-East and Midlands for five years, has been dogged by delays.

A business plan for the national rollout of the BreastCheck programme to the South and West was first given to the Department of Health in July 2002 yet progress has been piecemeal since.

However, last night, the Department of Health confirmed that it intends to take the first major step towards building the new units at Cork and Galway by putting the contracts for the design of the buildings out to tender.

“It is anticipated that the advertisement for the appointment of a design team will be placed in the EU Journal in the coming weeks.

“A capital investment of approximately €20 million has been approved to construct and equip the two static clinical units, one in Cork and another in Galway,” a spokesperson said.

Chief executive of BreastCheck Tony O’Brien welcomed the announcement and said that it was a significant breakthrough.

“It is the critical next step and we have been waiting for it since the end of last year. This programme has been proven to save the lives of Irish women,” he said.

The announcement comes less than a month after Mr O’Brien wrote to the Department of Health warning the target opening date for the western and southern services had been missed.

The BreastCheck clinical unit in the south will be located at the South Infirmary/Victoria Hospital, with three mobile screening units covering Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary South Riding.

The clinical unit for the Western Area will be built at UCH Galway, with two mobile screening units travelling to Galway, Sligo, Roscommon, Donegal, Mayo, Leitrim, Clare and Tipperary North Riding.

All women aged 50-65 living in these areas will be called for free breast X-rays so that cancerous growths which can’t yet be felt can be detected. Screening has been proven to cut cancer deaths by 20%.