Vol. 443 No. 3
67 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health the steps, if any, he intends to take to improve the breast cancer treatment facilities at St. Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4; and the plans, if any, he has for the development of breast cancer treatment clinics throughout the country.
150 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health the amount of funding to be given to St. Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, for a national screening service for breast cancer; and when St. Vincent's Hospital is likely to receive this funding.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 150 together.
My Department is currently in discussion with St. Vincent's Hospital regarding the development of the hospital's breast clinic facilities. The further development of breast clinic services nationally is a matter for each individual health agency in the first instance, having regard to its competing priorities for development and the resources available.
I have received no proposals from St. Vincent's Hospital regarding a national screening programme for breast cancer. The Deputies will be interested to learn, that my Department is supporting a major breast cancer screening programme underway at the Mater Foundation. This programme, the Eccles Breast Screening Programme, is part of a network of regional pilot schemes on breast cancer screening underway within the European Community. The other countries are Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The Irish study is being carried out in a defined catchment area i.e. north Dublin and Cavan-Monaghan representing both urban and rural populations. All women in the catchment areas aged between 50 to 64 are eligible to attend. Two screening units were established — one mobile — with the state-of-the-art equipment and staff trained specifically in mammography.
The objectives of the Eccles Breast Screening Programme are: to evaluate the impact of mammographic screening on mortality from breast cancer among Irish women, to document compliance with a breast screening programme in Irish women, and to compare the specificity, sensitivity and predictive value of the mammography screening programme with that reported internationally.
