HSE under pressure amid 'collapse' in number of women being screened for breast cancer

The HSE said BreastCheck was 'impacted by the global shortage of radiology staff'.

The HSE is coming under pressure to explain how one of its key cancer screening services has missed its own targets for the past two years in a row.

BreastCheck, the countrywide screening service for women aged between 50 and 69, missed its target of 195,000 screenings in 2024 by just under 30%.

It was the second year in a row in which the target had been missed by a distance. However, the disparity between target and actual results widened significantly in 2024. The 2023 target of 185,000 screenings missed by 10%.

Peadar Tóibín, the Aontú TD to whom the statistics were released via a parliamentary question, said the numbers of women being screened had “collapsed”, noting close to 171,000 women had been screened in 2019, close to 34,000 more than the 137,134 screenings carried out in 2024.

“The figures for last year are 5% lower than 10 years ago despite the population increase,” Mr Toibin said.

“It’s clear that the Government largely shut down breast and cervical cancer screening during covid,” he said, adding he personally had battled skin cancer during the pandemic and had been able to “see the dangers facing people” first-hand.

Prior to 2023, the HSE had been exceeding BreastCheck targets, albeit with significantly lower goals, with 156,786 tests carried out in 2022 versus a target of 140,000.

Just 56,270 screenings were carried out during the first year of the pandemic in 2020, leading to a backlog which the HSE has struggled with ever since.

The figures released to Mr Tóibín show Cervical Check screening has also tailed off significantly since the end of covid, with just 294,884 checks carried out in 2024 versus 260,000 in 2017.

BowelScreen tests for bowel cancer also fell below target in 2024, with 139,000 screenings taking place against a target of 148,000.

“Fewer screenings mean fewer cancers caught early, which mean more advanced cancers and tragically a higher chance of death,” Mr Tóibín said. 

He claimed the current pandemic review had been commissioned rather than a more in-depth public inquiry in order to limit the spotlight on the implications of Government decisions taken during the pandemic concerning medical screenings.

The HSE said of the BreastCheck numbers that the screening process “like many health services worldwide is impacted by the global shortage of radiology staff”, a shortfall which “has meant that we have not been able to increase our screening numbers to keep pace with the growing population”.

A spokesperson said, notwithstanding the pressures currently being applied to the screening programme, the HSE was currently “expanding capacity” by recruiting additional consultants and radiographers, adding new mobile screening units, and upgrading its IT system.

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“Our main message to all women of breast screening age is please attend their appointment when offered, or let us know if they can’t attend,” they said, adding the current uptake rate for screening remains “high”, at 72%.

Mr Tóibín did acknowledge “there is clearly a resource and staffing crisis also affecting the screening programmes”.

“We urge the Government to properly staff and invest in the cancer screening programmes now so that lives can be saved,” he said.