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NSS QA committee meeting minutes Q2 2026

Meeting details

Date of meeting

Wednesday 10 June 2026

Time of meeting

11am to 1pm

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
  • Ms Grace Reck (GR), Patient and Public Partnership Representative
  • Ms Fran Devlin (FD), Patient and Public Partnership Representative
  • Dr Laura Heavey (LH), Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Public Health, NSS

Apologies

Members

  • Dr Caroline Mason Mohan (CMM), Director of Public Health, NSS
  • Dr Louise Campbell (LC), Irish College of General Practitioners Representative
  • Ms Heather Burns (HB), Public Health Representative
  • Ms Abbey Collins (AC), Public Health Representative
  • Attendees:
  • Prof Noirin Russell (NR), Clinical Director, CervicalCheck, NSS
  • Ms Mary-Jo Biggs (MJB), Programme Manager, CervicalCheck, NSS

In attendance

  • Ms Colette Brett (CB), Head of Quality, Safety and Risk, 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
  • Ms Susie Black, Acting Head of Client Services, NSS
  • Ms Debbie Ryan (DR), Quality, Safety and Risk Coordinator, CervicalCheck, 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.

New committee members and attendees were introduced, including Mr Tom Dyer, Quality, Safety and Risk Manager at NSS, and Dr Laura Heavey, Consultant in Public Health Medicine at NSS. Dr Heavey will succeed Dr Caroline Mason-Mohan as the NSS Public Health Representative.

Action 79: QSR team to liaise with HB and AC regarding scheduling conflicts and confirm their availability to attend.

2. Conflicts of interest

There were no conflicts of interest tobe noted.

3. Minutes of meeting 23 March 2026

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

4. Presentation: Evaluation of the first phase of delivery of the Personal Cervical Screening Reviews

LH, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, delivered a presentation on “Evaluation of the initial delivery of Personal Cervical Screening Reviews (PCSRs), Process Review and Staff Perspectives”.

From a staff perspective, the process was viewed as transparent and holistic, with the woman at its centre. Key challenges identified included lengthy timelines for completion of a review, the psychological impact on staff involved, and concern for the impact on women participating in the process. Throughout the presentation a participant-led approach was highlighted, including the provision of a dedicated point of contact, the importance of listening to the participant’s story, understanding their specific queries, preparing them for potential review outcomes, and offering support throughout the process for both women and staff.

5. Presentation: Participant perspectives in Personal Cervical Screening Reviews

SB, Acting Head of Client Services, presented the findings from a survey conducted with 16 participants who had completed the Personal Cervical Screening Reviews process. The survey results provided the team with valuable insights into aspects of the process that worked well, as well as highlighted areas for potential improvement. An independent external evaluation of the women's experience is planned for the participants of the next phase of PCSRs. This was welcomed by the Committee as any subsequent recommendations will be informed by these findings.

Following the two presentations, members engaged in a discussion on raising general awareness among both women and service providers regarding the right to request a screening review. Socio-economic status can reduce the likelihood of women to access services, and potentially screening reviews, so clear signposting such as patient leaflets and on the HSE website, helps ensure everyone is aware of this service. There is ongoing engagement with non-NSS healthcare staff, such as GPs, colposcopists and gynae-oncologists, regarding patient-requested reviews for screening participants diagnosed with cervical cancer. It was noted that all available opportunities should be utilised to inform participants of their right to request a screening review.

Committee members acknowledged the international work under way to agree the calculation of an interval cervical cancer rate for screening programmes to facilitate benchmarking. Ireland and the NSS are involved in this project through the EUCanScreen research programme. This work will be completed in 2027.

A discussion took place on the benefits and limitations of invasive cancer audits in screening. As per the recommendations from 221+ patient advocacy group and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cancer reviews are available on request for women who receive a diagnosis of cervical cancer after attending for screening. These reviews are performed at the request of the woman or her family. They are not considered as part of quality assurance.

Service provider quality assurance is assessed via on-site quality assurance visits, and monthly monitoring of QA standards and key performance indicators by the CervicalCheck operations team. A discussion was held on clinical audit and the value of this to oversight and evaluation of performance. Additional work is progressing in this area with a new NSS Clinical Audit Committee recently approved by the HSE National Steering Committee for Clinical Audits. JY proposed that the CervicalCheck QA committee would add clinical audit as an agenda item for their next meeting, with updates to the NSS QA committee. It was also suggested that the CervicalCheck QA committee should be updated on the progress of the EUCanScreen project to agree a method of calculation for interval cervical cancer rates in cervical screening programmes.

NSS were invited to link in with National Quality Patient Safety Division following their work on open disclosure-related communication with different organisations.

6. Cross-Programme Review

BreastCheck Programme Review Q1, 2026

  • Update given by BreastCheck Quality Assurance Committee chair and acknowledged, noting that at the end of Q1 2026, programmes’ activity was below target, despite a 13% increase in screening compared with same quarter last year. AC advised that capacity issues in assessment and theatre remain, and the programme is working to address this imbalance.
  • AC gave an update on Contrast Enhanced Mammography (CEM) pilot and review of BreastCheck risk register.
  • AC updated members on actions undertaken in response to an incident whereby screening images were accidently deleted. There was no clinical impact as all images were already reviewed and actioned. A formal review of the incident is nearing completion with additional failsafe measures in place to mitigate risk of reoccurrence. Open disclosure was undertaken, and all affected women were offered additional screening, with approximately 10% opting to return for a second screen.

CervicalCheck Programme Review Q1, 2026

  • Update given by CervicalCheck Quality Assurance Committee chair, and acknowledged, including assurance of consistently strong performance and absence of major risks.
  • JY highlighted the recently completed CervicalCheck Open Disclosure Audit, noting that no non-conformances or recommendations were identified. The HSE Internal Audit team commended the programme on the quality of the documentation and data submitted, clear governance arrangements across the NSS, and the robustness of processes in place.
  • JY informed members that an Incident Management Team was recently convened to investigate a potential data transfer issue involving a colposcopy information system provider and confirmed that no harm to patients has been identified to date.
  • Members were informed that the programme has begun reviewing international evidence and is assessing quality improvement tools to evaluate the effectiveness of the Quality Assurance committee. Any relevant learnings will be shared at this forum.

BowelScreen Programme Review Q1, 2026

  • Update presented by programme manager and acknowledged, highlighting that increasing uptake and securing additional capacity for endoscopy are key priorities for 2026.
  • HC confirmed that CMM is stepping down as chair of the BowelScreen QA Committee, with a new chair onboarding. HC also noted the recent retirement of the clinical director, Prof PMcM, with a successor also onboarding. Both roles are expected to be filled by September.
  • HC highlighted ongoing endoscopy capacity challenges, mainly due to staff shortages in both endoscopy and histopathology units and noted that Tallaght University Hospital is being onboarded as the 17th endoscopy unit, also providing histopathology and surgical services to the programme.

Diabetic RetinaScreen Programme Review Q1, 2026

  • Update given by Diabetic RetinaScreen Quality Assurance Committee chair and acknowledged, noting another busy quarter for the programme with screening numbers above planned target and high activity across all screening pathways.
  • AZ updated members on quality improvement projects, including the Healthlink initiative enabling GPs to register participants via their practice management systems, an upcoming e-results pilot allowing programme to issue results electronically, and progress on phase 2 of the consent redesign.
  • AZ noted that engagement with the Irish Prison Service has begun, with a view to improving access to diabetic retina screening for people in custody.
  • Recently established Quality Assurance standards monitoring and improvement working group has identified challenges with screening capacity in some locations. Mitigating actions are under way with service providers to increase number of rooms and clinic days to improve compliance.

7. NSS Quality, Safety and Risk (QSR) Information Report

Quality, Safety and Risk Review Q1, 2026

  • Update given by CB and acknowledged, highlighting that staff shortages continue to affect overall QSR and Information Governance project progression. CB noted the recruitment is under way with full staffing in both Quality, Safety and Risk and Information Governance expected by Q3 2026.
  • CB informed members of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) review of the NSS and Newborn Screening that commenced in April, confirming that all documentation was submitted in advance of the deadline. No further information has been requested to date, and the NSS is awaiting confirmation of proposed staff interviews.
  • CB reminded of ongoing work in reviewing the assessment and categorisation of screening safety incidents, noting that its complexity arises from the typically low impact at an individual level but could involve multiple screening participants.

Quality, Safety and Risk Dashboard Q1, 2026

  • Update given by CB and acknowledged, on the new dashboard including update on all risks listed on NSS corporate risk register with the residual risk rating score above 15.
  • CB confirmed that the Population Screening Sustainability risk rating has been reduced and the risk has been moved to monitor status on the NSS corporate risk register. It was also noted that this is the only risk currently listed on the HSE Risk Register, with a recommendation from NSS to move it to monitor status.

NSS QA Committee Terms of Reference draft

  • Review of draft document was deferred to September meeting due to time restraints and committee members were requested to submit their comments and suggestions.
  • Action 80: Draft NSS QA Committee Terms of Reference to be re-circulated for review, and members invited to provide comments and suggestions ahead of September meeting.

Discussion regarding QA committees’ effectiveness

  • Discussion was deferred to September meeting due to time restraints.
  • Action 81: Proposal to be drafted and shared with committee members for review ahead of September meeting.

8. NSS Stakeholders Update

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

9. Documents for noting

NSS QA Committee Annual Report 2025 circulated.

10 Actions update

All actions reviewed and updated on the Action Log.

11. AOB

No additional items were presented for discussion.

12. Date of next meeting

Monday 7 September 2026 (in-person).

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