Vol. 538 No. 1
176 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health and Children the way in which women, who are not in the general medical scheme or on private insurers' data banks, are to be called for breast cancer screening; and the system of traceability of these women being used. [17414/01]
The Health (Provision of Information) Act, 1997, was enacted to facilitate the establishment of a population register to identify women aged 50 to 64 years to be invited for breast cancer screening. BreastCheck is supplied with data from the following sources: the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs; the General Medical Services (Payments) Board, and the Voluntary Health Insurance Board.
The population register is constantly reviewed and updated. Each of the three agencies provide regular updates to BreastCheck to include those women who have reached the age of 50 and are eligible for screening and those women who have reached the age of 65 who no longer eligible for screening. Information is also supplied on new social security beneficiaries and immigrants within the critical age group.
