By Caroline Walsh, Senior Public Health Officer, National Screening Service
We recently met with our European partners for the EUCanScreen consortium and work package meetings as the project enters its second year.
The meetings took place in Bled, Slovenia from 9 to 12 March 2026 and included the kick-off meeting for work package 4 (WP4), which aims to support countries to improve the sustainable implementation of cancer screening programmes across Europe - especially where they are not yet in place or a country faces challenges.
The Irish delegation also included the Department of Health which is co-leading on WP4 with our partners in Slovenia, and the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is working with us on key parts of the project.
Key discussions
Over four days, experts from across Europe came together for interactive workshops, presentations and collaborative discussions.
We discussed key themes, including:
- improving governance of screening programmes
- strengthening long-term sustainability
- enhancing effectiveness and quality
- sharing progress and achievements from each country over the past year.
Ireland’s contribution
The Irish delegation played an active role in sharing knowledge and experience.
We updated our European partners on work we have contributed to the EUCanScreen project over the last year including:
- Work package 6: sharing resources and information on how we address barriers to screening; systematic reviews of barriers and facilitators for participation in cervical cancer screening; planning for research with gender minorities and their experiences with cancer screening services
- Work package 7: the standardisation of calculating interval cancer rates for breast, bowel and cervical screening programmes with international partners
- Work package 11: the development of education and training for professionals performing colposcopy.
Showcasing Ireland’s approach
The meetings provided a valuable opportunity to showcase Ireland’s progress, while also learning from our European partners to improve our own services and support advances in screening internationally.
The Department of Health presented a poster on cancer screening in Ireland.
The poster highlighted:
- our expertise in quality assurance and governance
- our focus on equitable access to screening programmes, highlighting our work on Cervical Cancer Elimination and our Equity Strategic Framework
- practical tools and resources we can share, including frameworks, toolkits and public information materials.
Looking ahead
An important outcome of the meeting is the continued development of strong and supportive relationships between European countries.
Over the next year, we’ll work closely with selected European countries to:
- exchange knowledge and experiences
- address barriers to sustainable screening
- improve how screening quality is measured and delivered
- explore effective governance models.
This collaborative approach helps countries share what works, learn from each other and make real improvements together.
We look forward to continuing this important work over the next two years and to play our part in improved cancer screening programmes across Europe.
EUCanScreen is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or HADEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.