Four-year wait for BreastCheck to be fully operational

IT will take four more years before the national breast-screening programme is fully rolled out, the Department of Health admitted yesterday.

“The Minister for Health has promised time and time again since the general election that he would extend the BreastCheck programme to the south and west of the country, but progress in this regard has been abysmal,” said Labour’s Liz McManus.

Defending the four-year wait after the All-Ireland Cancer Report confirmed that screening reduced breast cancer by 20%, the department’s chief medical officer, Dr Jim Kiely, said it was better to get the roll-out right than to get it done quickly.