Waterford women to protest at 6-year breast screening delay

WOMEN in Waterford are planning a rally later this month to highlight the continuing delay in rolling out the BreastCheck service to the city.

Six years after the facility was first promised, the area still hasn’t received a visit by one of the BreastCheck mobile screening units.

The choice for women is to wait until they suspect symptoms, or pay to have a private screening at a clinic in Kilkenny.

Following a crisis meeting involving representatives from various city organisations, a decision was made to hold a rally on October 18 which is expected to attract a large crowd.

“After all the publicity recently about breast cancer misdiagnoses, women are really frightened at the moment about this,” former mayor Councillor Mary O’Halloran said yesterday.

Ms O’Halloran said that Health Minister Mary Harney assured her back in March the programme would be available by the beginning of June, while former taoiseach Bertie Ahern made a similar pledge in February.

The Fine Gael city councillor said she also told BreastCheck she would be available to encourage women to avail of the service.

Waterford is one of the few urban areas of the country not currently serviced by BreastCheck and women have been told they cannot travel to serviced towns or cities like Kilkenny or Wexford to avail of the screening.

If symptoms begin to show the only options are to attend a GP and receive a referral to the hospital, or pay for private screening. “It’s discrimination against those who can’t pay,” said Ms O’Halloran.

In Donegal, the only other area not served by BreastCheck, a group of women have got together to organise minibus journeys to Belfast for screening.

BreastCheck facilities are available to women aged between 50 and 64. The service is due to be extended to include those aged up to 69 and a review is also under way to examine the effectiveness of changing the lower age limit from 50 to 47 years.

A spokesperson for BreastCheck said yesterday while an expansion into the west and south of the country was confirmed last year, it would take up to 27 months to complete.

Screening schedules are announced on a three-monthly rolling basis, she said.

“BreastCheck will not speculate on expected screening schedules as it is imperative ... any woman with a concern ... consult her GP immediately ... whether she is part of the ... programme or not.”