Cancer screening services are expected to be back up and running by the end of the summer.
Health Minister Simon Harris told the Dáil this afternoon, that dates for the reopening of the four national screening programmes will be released later this month.
Thousands of patients have missed out on screening services since BreastCheck, CervicalCheck, BowelScreen and Diabetic RetinaScreen were paused in March.
Guidelines for cervical cancer screening have changed to allow HPV testing alone for women over 30.Minister Harris said all four are now finalising plans for a return.
“I am satisfied that this week we have more information than we had last week,” he said.
“We are really getting to a point now where by the end of this month, the screening programme is able to say that by the end of this month, restart dates for each of the four programmes will be announced and also that screening is expected to have begun on a phased reintroduction by the end of the summer.”
On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly said we need a new government to tackle the issues now facing our health service.
“The National Screening Service have just announced that they are not even going to begin restarting cancer screening services for several more months.
“That is not necessarily anybody’s fault, but that is the scale of the challenge just in healthcare.
“We need a new Government in place that can begin to direct resources and put new plans in place.”
Minster Harris said CervicalCheck and the Diabetic RetinaScreen are expected to restart first and would be followed by BreastCheck and then BowelScreen.
He said modification work on screening units is continuing and officials are analysing what effect COVID-19 regulations will have on the volume of screening that can happen.
Patients will be invited to screening on a phased basis, according to clinical priority.
