David Cullinane
Question:1074. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the estimated cost of increasing funding by 10% to BreastCheck and CervicalCheck; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21337/20]
View answerTuesday, 8 September 2020
Questions (1074)
Written answers
The Health Service Executive, National Screening Service (NSS) has responsibility for four population-based screening programmes in Ireland CervicalCheck, Diabetic RetinaScreen, BowelScreen and BreastCheck.
I am pleased that in the Programme for Government we have committed to extend the free screening age range in BreastCheck to those aged 69. This is an important development for the BreastCheck screening programme. Based on the 2020 allocated funding for the BreastCheck Programme the HSE has advised the impact of a 10% increase in funding for BreastCheck would be €2.8m.
In relation to CervicalCheck, the Government has committed to fully implementing the recommendations of Dr Scally’s Report of the Scoping Inquiry. Full implementation represents a very broad programme of work incorporating improvements across the National Screening Service and wider health services, and funding to support this work was allocated in Budget 2020, together with funding to support the switch to HPV primary testing. The move to HPV cervical screening means that Ireland joins a small group of nations that employs the best-in-class testing to screen their populations for cervical cancer. This improved testing methodology, along with the continued roll-out of HPV vaccinations, means that Ireland can look forward to a significant reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer cases over the next 10-20 years.
The HSE has advised that based on the 2020 allocated funding for CervicalCheck programme the impact of a 10% increase in funding for the programmes would be €4.4m.