Meeting details
Date of meeting
Monday 23 March 2026
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 Grace Reck (GR), Patient and Public Partnership Representative
Apologies
Members
Dr Caroline Mason Mohan (CMM), Director of Public Health, NSS
Ms Fran Devlin (FD), Patient and Public Partnership Representative
Ms Heather Burns (HB), Public Health Representative
Ms Abbey Collins (AC), Public Health Representative
Attendees
Ms Hilary Coffey (HC), Programme Manager, BowelScreen, NSS
Prof Noirin Russell (NR), Clinical Director, CervicalCheck, NSS
In attendance
Ms Colette Brett (CB), Head of Quality, Safety and Risk, NSS
Prof Pádraic Mac Mathúna (PMcM), Clinical Director, BowelScreen, NSS
Ms Grainne Gleeson (GG), Programme Manager, BreastCheck, NSS
Ms Mary-Jo Biggs (MJB), Programme Manager, CervicalCheck, NSS
Ms Mary Sheedy (MS), Deputy Programme Manager, BowelScreen, NSS
Ms Helen Kavanagh (HK), Programme Manager, DRS, NSS
Dr Alan Smith (AS), Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Public Health, NSS
Mr Tom Dyer (TD), Quality, Safety and Risk Manager, 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 8 December 2025
Minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and approved by the Committee.
4. Cross-Programme Review
Diabetic RetinaScreen Programme Review Q4, 2025
- Update given by Diabetic RetinaScreen Quality Assurance Committee chair and acknowledged, noting that the activity remained consistently high across all screening pathways, and that in 2025 the programme achieved the highest final grades ever recorded.
- AZ reminded that the consent redesign project phase 1 went live in December which focused on the cohort of participants that was on register since 2012 but never engaged with the programme. A final communication was issued advising how to opt in; a 1% response rate has been received, with the remaining participants now opted out (and can opt back in at any time). HK also outlined the “register clean-up” project that commenced over 2 years ago, confirming that governance and decision-making were robust, with change proposals revised by the programme management, public health, and quality, safety and risk teams, and appropriately documented. HK advised that the transformational change document will be shared with the committee on project completion.
- AZ noted that delayed treatment centre appointments remained an issue throughout 2025, particularly at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, with backlog within the non-diabetic eye disease cohort. The programme is progressing a cataract referral pathway to reduce dependence on DRS treatment centres and help address delays.
CervicalCheck Programme Review Q4, 2025
- Update given by CervicalCheck Quality Assurance Committee chair, and acknowledged, including reminder about the altered timing of 5-year cervical screening invitations in Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 to support programme capacity.
- JY commended the CervicalCheck Screening Training Unit for receiving the Irish Healthcare Award for Nursing and Midwifery Project of the Year for their innovative approach to developing a resilient, responsive, and future-focused cervical screening education model.
- JY highlighted the need to review and measure both local and the overarching quality assurance committees’ effectiveness, including how committee’s objectives are set and how the committee’s impact on the quality assurance process is measured. Committee chair supported this, noting the importance of exploring different methods to assess the effectiveness and ensure the committee meets its purpose as per terms of reference. CB proposed that members submit their ideas and suggestions ahead of the next meeting for discussion. LS advised that similar work is under way by the Open Disclosure Steering Committee and invited CB to liaise further.
BreastCheck Programme Review Q4, 2025
- Update given by BreastCheck Quality Assurance Committee chair and programme manager and acknowledged, including information on new replacement mobile breast screening units, which will introduce upgraded technology to improve efficiency and reliability, and on the introduction of contrast-enhanced mammography at the Eccles Unit, offering an alternative to MRI and supporting reduced waiting times in host hospitals.
- AC reminded of recent BreastCheck inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority on medical exposure to ionising radiation. The final report, which was shared with the committee members, highlighted strong collaboration with quality, safety and risk department and found all areas compliant or substantially compliant.
- It was noted that the appointment reminders and the BreastCheck programme registration advice have been implemented recently on the HSE Health App.
- Members queried the expected timeline for addressing delayed screening. GG advised that the programme is prioritising those with the longest waits, with a return to the 2‑year screening interval anticipated by end 2027.
BowelScreen Programme Review Q4, 2025
- Update presented by deputy programme manager and acknowledged, noting successful end of 2025 with a record number of satisfactory FIT kits returned.
- MS reiterated that endoscopy capacity remains a challenge; however, Cork University Hospital has been recently added as an additional unit, with a 17th unit planned in Tallaght University Hospital in Q2 2026.
- Members queried whether any patient requested screening reviews had been received by BowelScreen since the introduction of the Patient Safety Act; none have been reported to date, with an estimated frequency of one every 4 to 5 years. MS highlighted that the programme supports clinicians in open disclosure post-colonoscopy colorectal cancer diagnoses, with a clear protocol in place, and that interval cancers arise post-colonoscopy rather than post FIT kit false negatives. While interval cancer rates remain within expected levels and among the lowest in Europe, members emphasised the need for clear documentation and agreed that template correspondence should be prepared in advance of any requests received.
5. NSS Quality, Safety and Risk (QSR) Information Report
Quality, Safety and Risk Review Q4, 2025
- Update given by CB and acknowledged, highlighting ongoing staffing shortages impacting project progression; recruitment for the Grade VII (Quality, Safety and Risk) and Grade VIII (Information Governance) roles has now commenced. With no staff currently in Information Governance and ongoing staffing challenges within the Quality Safety and Risk team, progression of projects will be challenging; however, robust processes remain in place to support day-to-day activities.
- CB noted that Quality Information Management System (Q-Pulse) licence has been renewed for 1 year, however it will not be available in current format after December 2026. Engagement with HSE Technology & Transformation and HCI commenced regarding next steps and there is a plan in place to set up a project team to manage this issue and investigate possibilities going forward.
- CB confirmed that the HSE Checklist for implementation of the HSE Open Disclosure Policy 2025 has been submitted to the Corporate Management Team, with the action plan progressing. Clinical and Managerial Open Disclosure Champions for NSS have been identified, the National Open Disclosure Programme Skills Workshop was delivered in BreastCheck Eccles and future dates in other locations are being considered. Data for the 2025 Annual Open Disclosure Report has been received for validation, and the final report is expected to be published in coming months.
- It was agreed at the NSS Executive Management Team meeting that, to support HSE Maturity Assessment compliance, the relevant Primary Compliance Obligations Register will be monitored quarterly, in line with HSE Board requirements.
Quality, Safety and Risk Dashboard Q4, 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.
- LS advised that updates to the impact table on the National Incident Management System are expected to come into effect in the coming months.
NSS QA Committee Membership draft
- The NSS QA Committee membership was updated to reflect current members, shared in advance, and approved by the committee.
- The committee acknowledged the absence of regional representation.
Action 77: CB to liaise with LS to identify and secure QPS regional representative
NSS QA Committee Annual Report 2025 draft
- The draft report was circulated in advance of the meeting. Members were asked to review document and provide comments or suggestions for consideration and incorporation; if no feedback is received, the report will be considered approved.
Action 78: QSR team to re-circulate draft report with request to review.
6. NSS Stakeholders Update
The National Screening Service stakeholders’ updates were shared with the committee members for noting.
7. Documents for noting
Two documents were circulated in a meeting pack to the committee members and noted:
- Building an AI Governance Programme for Population Cancer Screening
- HIQA Report of the assessment of compliance with medical exposure to ionising radiation regulations.
8. Actions Update
All actions reviewed and updated on the Action Log.
9. AOB
No additional items were presented for discussion.
10. Date of next meeting
Wednesday 10 June 2026 (in-person).