Near 50% drop in BreastCheck screenings during Covid

BreastCheck, the national breast screening programme, admits they "lost nearly a year" of screening time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has meant that some appointments have been delayed by up to 12 months, with BreastCheck now working through the backlog of 2021 screening cases. However, this is "dependent" on the ongoing situation with COVID-19 and the "global challenge" recruiting qualified staff in radiology and radiography.

BreastCheck screening units move from location to location, offering breast screening to eligible women in that area every two years.

There was a near 50% drop in the number of BreastCheck screenings carried out across the HSE region covering counties Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo between 2019-2020 compared to the previous two years, 2017-2018.

In Cavan, the numbers of women within the population age range 50-69 years screened fell from 3,775 to 2,940.

But those screening figures, while "not complete" look to have bounced back in the period 2021 to the end of May 2022. A total of 3,625 women were screened in Cavan over that 17-month period.

Only Co Monaghan saw an increase in the number of women screened in 2019-20, up by almost eight per cent from 4,426 (2017-18) to 4,779. But just 757 women have been screened in Monaghan in 2021 up to the end of May 2022, a six-fold drop-off.

There is recovery in the number being screened elsewhere, in Donegal up 20% (6,480) from 5,395 in 2019-20; in Leitrim, up five-fold (809) from 150; and in Sligo, where numbers have more than doubled (3,846) from 1,897.

"We aim to return to screening women every two years as soon as possible," said a spokesperson for the HSE, explaining that BreastCheck was paused between March and end of October 2020, and again between January and March 2021 due to the spread of Covid. "The programme was paused in order to protect participants and staff by complying with social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Since March 2021, breast screening services have been operating nationwide."

The spokesperson added: "We have lost nearly a year of screening time because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that appointments in this screening round (where we invite women for screening once every two years) are delayed by up to a year. If a woman was due to be screened in 2021, we will now aim to invite her in 2022. As a result, some of our units will remain in one location longer than two years, until the current screening round is complete there.

"We aim to return to screening women every two years as soon as possible. This is dependent on the situation with COVID-19 and the global ongoing challenge of staff recruitment in radiology and radiography."