Two other screening programmes are due to also resume next week
CervicalCheck is to resume screening from Monday for high priority groups, formally rolling out HPV (human papilloma virus) testing as it does so.
Diabetic RetinaScreen is also to restart this month. Letters are to go out on Monday, July 6, time inviting priority cases to take up cervical screening by the newly introduced HPV test. This would pick up 18 to 20 cases with potential precancerous changes for every 1,000 screened, according to the Health Service Executive (HSE) Chief Clinical Officer, Dr Colm Henry, who outlined control measures for the four screening programmes: CervicalCheck, BreastCheck, Diabetic RetinaScreen and BowelScreen last week.
The first phase of CervicalCheck invites are to contact women due a yearly recall first.
They are also to invite those who need a repeat test, due to the fact their last sample could not be tested, and then those have become eligible this year for their first cervical screening test.
In the next phase, they are to send out invitation letters for routine screening beginning with people who have been waiting the longest. Dr Henry said Diabetic RetinaScreen would also resume in July while BreastCheck and BowelScreen would resume in September. For breast screening extensive modification of screening units was to be completed.
Prof David Keegan, Clinical Director of Diabetic RetinaScreen has expressed confidence recently that the diabetic retinal screening service could catch up with the pandemic backlog of currently estimated 25,000 delayed diabetic screenings, “although there might be some drift into next yearâ€.
Labour Party Leader, Alan Kelly, welcomed the announcement that CervicalCheck screening would resume for priority cases on July 6 but said dates were needed for the resumption of other screening programmes, and specific timelines for when non-priority cases could hope to be seen.
