Welcome to our latest news summary featuring updates across the National Screening Service. To keep up to date with all of our news, read our blogs and follow us on X @NSShse
National Cervical Screening Laboratory at The Coombe Hospital resumes processing of CervicalCheck screening samples
On 24 October 2023, the National Cervical Screening Laboratory at the Coombe Hospital resumed processing samples for Cervical Check. The resumption of services follows the reinstatement of the laboratory accreditation, and the lab is now building towards its target of processing 10% of all CervicalCheck programme slides.
As sample processing resumes at the Coombe Hospital, women can be reassured that there will be no change in the way samples are processed. Sampletakers will send their samples to the programme as usual and women and their GPs will continue to receive their CervicalCheck results within the usual timeframe.
All our CervicalCheck samples go to one of two quality assured laboratories – the National Cervical Screening Laboratory in Dublin and Quest Diagnostics in the US. Quality assurance underpins all our work. You can read more about our laboratory Quality Assurance. Further information about cervical screening is available on www.hse.ie/cervicalcheck
Diabetic RetinaScreen marks 10 years of screening
Diabetic RetinaScreen is the free, national screening programme to find and treat serious eye problems caused by diabetes. On World Sight Day, we marked 10 years of diabetic retina screening at the NSS. We screened the first person for diabetic retinopathy on 11 March 2013. Since then, we have provided over 800,000 free eye screening tests and the number of people actively participating in the programme has doubled.
We screen over 100,000 people each year and refer over 7,000 people to a treatment clinic for further tests or treatment. Through screening, we can help detect retinopathy and offer people follow-up treatment with the aim of reducing or preventing damage to their eyesight. We provide screening through a network of over 130 community-based screening locations. The impact of the programme is the result of everyone involved over the past 10 years – screening participants, screeners, screening providers, hospitals, GPs, diabetes nurses, ophthalmologists, optometrists, obstetricians, endocrinologists and our programme team.
Together we’re making a difference: working with 221+ to review progress of support process for women diagnosed with cervical cancer
We recently met with Patient Advocacy Group 221+ and other key stakeholders to review the implementation of recommendations from a collaborative consultation and research report. The report was an outcome of a joint consultation developed in partnership with patient representatives from 221+.
The consultation captured the personal views and experiences of women and their recommendations for improvements and change in future processes of cervical cancer audit and disclosure. Commenting on the progress made in implementing the recommendations, one 221+ member thanked the NSS for taking “so much of what we said on board”, and another said “it feels great personally to be heard”.
Market research shows that 4 in 5 women choose breast screening
Across all our screening programmes, we work to deliver positive patient experiences. One of the ways we do this is by listening and learning from people who are eligible for screening. Understanding their perspectives helps us to make evidence-based changes to our screening programmes.
Earlier this year, we ran an online survey aimed at understanding women’s knowledge and awareness of breast screening and breast cancer. The results show that 4 in 5 women attend breast screening when invited to do so. Over 500 women aged 50 to 69 took part in the survey.
Overall, half of women felt they had good levels of knowledge around breast screening and 7 in 10 women agreed regular breast screening is extremely important. Most women (9 in 10) know that it is possible for breast cancer to develop between screenings and 7 in 10 women know that breast screening is for women with no symptoms. These results show high levels of awareness about the role of screening and its limitations.
We are also running the BreastCheck Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) programme to help us listen to and learn from our participant’s experiences, understand what is working well, and identify areas where we can improve breast screening. Our PREMs programme aims to be the largest patient experience survey ever conducted in a breast cancer screening programme worldwide.
Cervical Cancer Elimination Day of Action on 17 November
In 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched its Global Strategy to Eliminate Cervical Cancer, which has a vision of a world where cervical cancer is eliminated as a public health problem. This doesn’t mean there will be no cases, but the number of cases will be low – fewer than four per 100,000 women per year. Ireland is one of the first countries in the world to publicly declare a commitment to a global initiative to eliminate cervical cancer.
Ireland is following countries such as Australia and Sweden by setting a date by which it is likely to reach the target set by WHO. On 17 November, on Cervical Cancer Elimination Day of Action, the target date for Ireland to achieve cervical cancer elimination will be announced. You can follow events of the day on X @NSShse.
As Ireland prepares to announce this target date, we pay tribute to the legacy of Henrietta Lacks, whose immortal HeLa cells proved that various strains of HPV (the human papillomavirus) caused most cervical cancers and led to the development of the HPV vaccine.
BowelScreen age range lowered to age 59
Earlier this month, we announced that the age range of people eligible for BowelScreen, the national bowel screening programme, has been lowered to include women and men aged 59. Thanks to all our stakeholders for supporting this message. We continue to promote the new age range on radio, in national press and on social media platforms and ask all of our stakeholders to update their own information sources. We will keep you informed of future age extensions as they happen.
RAMI (Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland) Research Award
NSS colleagues are among the authors of the paper titled Screen-detected ductal carcinoma insitu, 2008–2020 which has won a RAMI (Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland) Research Award.
Congratulations to Prof Patricia Fitzpatrick and Dr Therese Mooney of the NSS Programme Evaluation Unit; and Prof Fidelma Flanagan, Dr Alissa Connors, Prof Cecily Quinn, Dr Caroline Brodie, Dr Margaret Sheehan, Dr Maria Kennedy, Dr Bill Bennett and Dr Aideen Larke of BreastCheck and affiliated hospitals.
More news in brief
Some of our recently published blogs include:
- National Screening Service provides expertise to European guidelines on breast cancer screening and diagnosis
- Angela’s story: “I consider myself incredibly lucky that I had my mammogram when I did.”
- National Screening Service contributes to international research on bowel cancer screening
- Combination of cervical screening and HPV vaccination steers Ireland on the road to Cervical Cancer Elimination, new research shows
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