Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
663. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the epidemiological reasons that have allowed physiotherapists to reopen while the BreastCheck and CervicalCheck screening programmes remain paused; if the decision to continue pausing the BreastCheck and CervicalCheck cancer screening programmes due to Covid-19 was made purely based on epidemiological reasons; and if other reasons fed into this decision, the reasons therefor. [9152/20]
View answerSince COVID-19 was categorised as a national public health emergency, and to align with the advice issued by the World Health Organisation and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), the National Screening Service (NSS) took the difficult decision to pause all four population screening programmes, which includes CervicalCheck and BreastCheck. Of note, a similar pausing of population screening programmes has occurred in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales.
At the time it was necessary to evaluate and prioritise the services delivered by the health system. The HSE had to ensure that health services were in a state of preparedness for the estimated increase in total patient load during this pandemic. All non-essential surgery, health procedures and other non-essential health services had to be temporarily paused. This was in line with epidemiological factors of COVID-19 which including social distance measures, the rising number of cases detected, an increasing number of hospital admissions, admissions to ICU and deaths. These recommendations had as their goal to minimise the spread of COVID-19, protect patients and staff.
It is important to note, that population screening programmes involve inviting asymptomatic individuals for examinations. This could not continue during the public health emergency because of the need for social distancing and prevention of person-to person spread of this infectious disease. This temporary pause is for community testing (GPs and clinics) and not for symptomatic patients or patients already referred to or in the process of being managed within the acute system.
It is important to emphasise that people who are in-between screening appointments, or waiting for rescheduled appointments, should continue to be aware of and act on any symptoms associated with the conditions being screened for. Any individual who has symptoms should contact their GP immediately who can then refer them for further investigation.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the NSS has monitored the feasibility of restarting their screening programmes and assessing the associated risks. The NSS is participating in a national process, led jointly by the Chief Clinical Officer and the Chief Operations Officer in the HSE to restore services safely across all parts of the healthcare system. The HSE are finalising a framework for the resumption of non-covid healthcare services in the current environment, the recommencement of the screening programmes will be incorporated into this framework.
