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NSS QA committee meeting minutes Q4 2025

Meeting details

Date of meeting

Wednesday 8 December 2025

Time of meeting

1pm to 3pm

Meeting format

MS teams meeting

Members Present

Dr Jennifer Martin (Chair), Director of National Health Service Improvement, Public Health

Ms Lorraine Schwanberg (LS), Assistant National Director, Incident Management, The National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate

Dr Alissa Connors (AC), Chair BreastCheck Quality Assurance Committee

Mr Andleeb Zafar (AZ), Chair Diabetic RetinaScreen Quality Assurance Committee

Ms Jan Yates (JY), Chair CervicalCheck Quality Assurance Committee

Dr Louise Campbell (LC), Irish College of General Practitioners Representative

Ms Fran Devlin (FD), Patient and Public Partnership Representative

Ms Grace Reck (GR), Patient and Public Partnership Representative

Apologies

Members:

Dr Caroline Mason Mohan (CMM), Director of Public Health, NSS

Attendees:

Ms Mary-Jo Biggs (MJB), Programme Manager, CervicalCheck, NSS

In attendance

Ms Colette Brett (CB), Head of Quality, Safety and Risk, NSS

Prof Noirin Russell (NR), Clinical Director, CervicalCheck, NSS

Prof Pádraic Mac Mathúna (PMcM), Clinical Director, BowelScreen, NSS

Ms Grainne Gleeson (GG), Programme Manager, BreastCheck, NSS

Ms Hilary Coffey (HC), Programme Manager, BowelScreen, NSS

Ms Helen Kavanagh (HK), Programme Manager, DRS, NSS

Dr Alan Smith (AS), Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Public Health, NSS

Ms Karolina Guzek (KG), Quality, Safety and Risk Executive Officer, NSS - Secretariat

Meeting minutes

1. Welcome, introduction and apologies

The Chair welcomed meeting attendees. Apologies for the meeting were noted.

2. Conflicts of interest

There were no conflicts of interest to be noted.

3. Minutes of meeting 10 September 2025

Minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and approved by the Committee.

4. Cross-programme review

BreastCheck Programme Review Q3, 2025:

  • Update given by BreastCheck Quality Assurance Committee chair and Programme Manager and acknowledged, including update on ongoing projects aimed at addressing delays in the invitation of women for screening, and focus on recruitment and expanding service capacity.
  • AC advised members of the recent Health Information & Quality Authority (HIQA) assessment on compliance with the regulations on medical exposure to ionising radiation. The inspection report and its recommendations are expected shortly, and an update will be presented to the Committee when available.
  • It was noted that despite ongoing staffing challenges within the programme, both the number of women invited for screening and the number of women screened increased significantly compared with the same period last year, and programme performance exceeded the targets set for that period.
  • GG reported that the programme is prioritising women experiencing the longest appointment waiting times. To support this, staff are being re‑allocated temporarily to the areas with the longest delays. GG also noted that returning to the 2‑year screening interval will take the programme approximately two years.

CervicalCheck Programme Review Q3, 2025:

  • Update given by CervicalCheck Quality Assurance Committee chair, and acknowledged, including presentation of CervicalCheck Annual Report 2022-2023, which was included in the meeting pack.
  • It was noted that the change to HPV screening and the COVID-19 pause will result in high number of women due for screening in late 2025 and early 2026. To manage capacity, the programme is reviewing the timing of screening invitations to ensure timely testing, results and follow-up care.
  • Members expressed concern about delays in the procurement of a new Information Management System. NR reassured the Committee that the current system remains fully operational, and that project work is continuing as planned with risk closely monitored via local risk register.

BowelScreen Programme Review Q3, 2025:

  • Update presented by Clinical Director and Programme Manager and acknowledged, noting that as of 1st of October 2025 the programme extended the age range to include people aged 58 (58-70).
  • HC reported that, to help address current capacity issues, the programme has re-commenced engagement with two new endoscopy units and one histopathology laboratory.
  • HC reiterated that increasing programme uptake continues to be a key priority. To support this, web registration is now available, offering participants more options for engaging with the service. The texting pilot also continues, with participants receiving reminders to return their FIT kits. FD commended the new registration portal, noting that it is easy to use, provides clear information on when the next kit is due, and allows users to update their personal details.
  • HC presented a position paper recommending that the number of BowelScreen Quality Assurance Committee meetings be reduced from six per year to a minimum of four. Following consideration, the Committee approved this recommendation in principle.

Action 76: Recommendation to adjust the meeting schedule of the BowelScreen Quality Assurance Committee to be presented to NSS Chief Executive for final approval.

Diabetic RetinaScreen Programme Review Q3, 2025:

  • Update given by Diabetic RetinaScreen Quality Assurance Committee chair and acknowledged, noting that the collaborative work between the programme and the World Health Organization in Uzbekistan was shortlisted for the Cross Border Initiative/ International Collaboration of the Year at the Irish Healthcare Awards.
  • AZ reported that the Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) project, designed to capture real-time feedback from screening participants, is progressing as planned and went live in early October. Initial findings will be available for the Committee to review in Q1 2026.
  • AZ reported that, regarding delayed appointments, the corrective actions have been implemented, and the programme is proactively addressing the issue by scheduling additional clinics, ensuring appropriate staffing, and continuously monitoring performance against agreed targets.

5. NSS Quality, Safety and Risk (QSR) Information report

Quality, Safety and Risk Review Q3, 2025:

  • Update given by CB and acknowledged, noting that, while staffing shortages in the department have posed challenges to overall project progression, the key high-priority initiatives continue to progress as planned.
  • Public Health and QSR reported ongoing progress on work related to ‘screening safety incidents’. Initial feedback has been received from programmes’ Quality Assurance coordinators, and due to be reviewed.
  • Collaboration continues regarding the cervical histopathology lookback review. Incident management has been completed from the CervicalCheck perspective, and all open disclosures have taken place. The programme is awaiting the final report as the hospital completes phase 3 of the review.
  • The QSR team is engaging with four programmes to address the management of ‘inactive unconfirmed deaths’ across the organisation. The information gathering stage has begun, including validation of the death processes within each programme.
  • It was noted that, to support implementation and ongoing compliance with the HSE Open Disclosure Policy 2025, the NSS completed the HSE Checklist for the Implementation of the HSE Open Disclosure Policy 2025 and continues to progress implementation of action plan.
  • CB noted that the Information Governance team has successfully rolled out revised and streamlined data incident reporting process in line with advice received form HSE Data Protection Office. LS and CB will continue discussions on data breach reporting outside of this meeting.

Quality, Safety and Risk Dashboard Q3, 2025:

  • Update given by CB and acknowledged, including update on all risks listed on NSS corporate risk register with the residual risk rating score above 15 and noting one new risk due to be added to NSS Corporate Risk Register regarding Implementation of Information Governance Framework.

6. NSS Stakeholder update

The National Screening Service stakeholders’ updates were shared with the committee members for noting.

7. Documents for noting

Three documents were circulated in a meeting pack to the committee members and noted:

8. Actions update

All actions reviewed and updated on the Action Log.

9. Presentation: Artificial intelligence in NSS

AS, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Public Health, NSS delivered a presentation on the development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Programme for Population Cancer Screening. He outlined the increasing use of AI in medical imaging, noting that AI can now analyse large volumes of images, detect subtle abnormalities that may be missed by a human, and improve diagnostic accuracy by identifying patterns. He also highlighted potential benefits, including the use of AI to optimise scheduling, resource allocation, and workflow efficiency.

AS noted how AI may support the future of population screening through automated image review, enhanced patient risk assessments, and earlier interventions, and he suggested on how such developments could be applied within the NSS. He also outlined key challenges, including limited guidance and expertise, complexity of procurement and tendering processes, staff readiness and resistance to change, unclear governance, and the need to maintain public trust.

He presented high level NSS AI project governance structures, emphasising the number of dependencies and the overall complexity of projects implementation. AS also outlined the remit of the AI Strategic Advisory Committee, the role of which, among others, is to set strategic direction, monitor AI projects implementation within the NSS, ensure legal and ethical compliance, and assess and recommend AI projects ensuring they are in line with the HSE AI Implementation Framework Guidance.

10. Proposed calendar of events 2026

The proposed schedule of meetings for 2026 was circulated and noted. Members were requested to advise by year‑end if any dates are unsuitable. Provisional invitations will be issued in due course.

11. AOB

The Committee Chair thanked the members, the Chairs of the four Programme Quality Assurance Committees, and the programme managers for their work and contributions throughout the year.

12. Date of next meeting

Monday 9 March 2026

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