By Lynn Swinburne, Equity Manager, National Screening Service
We’re making cervical screening easier to access and breaking down barriers for migrant women living in an International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) emergency centre in Redbarn, Youghal, Co. Cork. Since cervical screening began there in late 2024, half of all the women living there who are eligible have attended for screening.
Why we brought cervical screening to Redbarn
Youghal Accommodation Centre is home to around 500 people from over 32 countries, including Syria, Pakistan, Palestine and several African nations. About 160 women who live there are aged 25 to 65 and are eligible for free cervical screening with CervicalCheck.
Many of these women face barriers such as travel, language, limited time or not knowing what cervical screening is and why it matters. By setting up an onsite service, we were able to remove many of those obstacles.
There is a sessional GP clinic on site at the centre and the clinic is a registered provider of cervical screening with CervicalCheck since September 2024. It was clear that we could make a real difference by bringing screening to where women already receive primary care.
Who we worked with
We worked with the medical clinic team which includes a GP, medical secretary, migrant support worker and nurse sample taker. This team runs the service day-to-day.
Our CervicalCheck Screening Training Unit provided training and support to the clinic’s sample taker.
The migrant support worker completed our Community Champions training in 2024 and she works closely with the nurse sample taker. This partnership is key. The community champion helps to raise awareness about cervical screening, supports women with literacy and understanding screening, helps to arrange appointments and transport, and provides trusted information.
Having a community champion physically present onsite with a sample taker means women have immediate support from someone they know, in a place they already come for care. Together, they make the service approachable, understandable and culturally sensitive.
Clear and consistent messages
The health promotion message was consistent. If a woman was eligible for cervical screening, the team made sure she knew about it and could access it easily if she wanted to take part.
The team used every possible touchpoint to reach women across the centre with clear and trusted messages shared again and again, including:
- WhatsApp groups for residents
- posters around the centre
- community champion information sessions on cervical screening and HPV
- home visits and postnatal visits by public health nurses
- mother and baby groups
- health screening questionnaires
- opportunistic reminders during doctor, nurse or support-worker contacts.
Outcomes
The first woman was screened in November 2024, and since then, 80 women have taken part in cervical screening in the clinic.
What we learned
The team have gained insight into challenges and solutions from providing the service for more than a year.
Language barriers were the biggest challenge, with many different languages spoken across the centre. To support women, the team used:
- Google Translate
- Pocketalk two-way translation devices
- Access Translations (a local service that provides phone or in-person interpreters).
Non-attendance was another challenge. The team responded by:
- making reminder phone calls before appointments
- sending regular updates through the residents’ WhatsApp groups.
These small, consistent steps helped women feel supported and more comfortable attending their appointments.
Wider benefits
This partnership has already shown the benefits of delivering screening directly to communities. It has increased access and improved understanding of cervical screening, and helped women feel safe and supported to attend for screening.
It is also creating pathways into other screening programmes. So far, around 15 women have taken up breast screening with BreastCheck. The team is working to make sure all people with diabetes living at the centre are linked to Diabetic RetinaScreen. They are also raising awareness of BowelScreen with people eligible.
Looking ahead
In 2026, the focus will continue on promoting cervical screening and supporting women across the centre to attend, while strengthening access to all other national screening programmes. The team’s approach shows what’s possible when we build services around people’s real lives and needs. A trained community champion onsite, working directly with the sample taker, has created a welcoming, accessible service that is already helping to prevent cervical cancer.
The collaboration between the HSE social inclusion migrant health team which incorporates the sessional medical staff, east Cork public health nursing, the centre management and the National Screening Service has created a unique opportunity to help and support a community that often faces poorer health outcomes because of social and economic barriers. By working together, we are reducing these barriers and improving equity in screening.
- Learn more about our work to improve equity in screening.