Delay of Breastcheck Roll-out in Clare reveals 12 months of broken promises

Government has delivered a series of false commitments and broken promises with regards Breastcheck in County Clare.

I’ve been raising this matter for over 12 months in Dáil Éireann and received a string of conflicting promises during that period.

Recently I received a commitment in Dáil Éireann from Junior Minister Dara Calleary that breastcheck would begin in June 2009.

That deadline has long since passed. Now, once again, the roll out of the service has been put on the long finger.

I first raised this matter in Dáil Éireann in 2009 and since then I have raised it a further eight times. In that year government have been consistently kicking for touch. Last May, government finally gave a commitment that breastcheck services would begin in June 2009. This information was given to me by Junior Minister Dara Calleary in Dáil Éireann.

Now though we learn that this was a hollow promise, and the service will not be rolled

out comprehensively for several more months. Although some areas of the county, particularly north Clare, have the service, much of County Clare is without a fully implemented Breastcheck service. This is nothing short of a scandal. How can anyone have confidence in our health service when the administrators cannot roll out an essential programme such as Breastcheck on time and efficiently?

“The recruitment embargo has had a devastating effect on frontline services, and this is just another example of that. We know already that a state of the art CT Scanner in Ennis General has been left idle because of a lack of staff.

We need to ask what are Clare’s two Fianna Fáil TDs doing to ensure frontline essential services such as Breastcheck are being made available? Again, it would seem that County Clare is the forgotten region when it come to government policy and funding.”

“The latest statement from the HSE is that Breascheck roll out for the county will begin in September. Yet this is more words and there is a sense that we have heard this all before. What we need now are actions. We need the roll out process to be fast-tracked and prioritised. Minister Tony Killen is at the cabinet table. There’s little point him being there unless he delivers breastcheck roll-out in the coming weeks, not months, for the people of County Clare.”

Below are questions I’ve asked in the Dáil over the past 12 months on Breastcheck

Written Answers — Cancer Screening Programme: Cancer Screening Programme (23 Mar 2010)
Joe Carey: Question 293: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the roll-out of BreastCheck to County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12531/10]

Written Answers — Cancer Screening Programme: Cancer Screening Programme (13 Oct 2009)
Joe Carey: Question 163: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress made with regard to the provision of BreastCheck to County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35426/09]

Written Answers — Cancer Screening Programme: Cancer Screening Programme (13 Oct 2009)
Joe Carey: Question 172: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when BreastCheck will be made available to all 8,000 eligible women aged between 50 to 64 years in north, south, east, west and mid-County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35456/09]

Written Answers — Cancer Screening Programme: Cancer Screening Programme (16 Jun 2009)
Joe Carey: Question 117: To ask the Minister for Health and Children further to the commitment received by this Deputy during an Adjournment debate of 29 April 2009 regarding the roll out of BreastCheck to County Clare that the indicative date was June 2009, the specific date in June 2009 the service will be operational in County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23567/09]

Written Answers — Cancer Screening Programme: Cancer Screening Programme (6 May 2009)
Joe Carey: Question 256: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will seek an exemption from the public service recruitment embargo in order to facilitate the roll out of the BreastCheck programme to County Clare in 2009; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17798/09]

Cancer Screening Programme. (29 Apr 2009)
Joe Carey: …of State, Deputy Dara Calleary, on his appointment. However, I am disappointed that the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, is not in the Chamber to respond to our concerns. The BreastCheck programme was launched nationally in 2000. In 2002, an announcement was made that the women of County Clare would benefit imminently from the screening service. Seven years later,…

Written Answers — Cancer Screening Programme: Cancer Screening Programme (13 Nov 2008)
Joe Carey: Question 105: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the timeframe for the development of the BreastCheck service to Clare; her plans to extend the service to different age groups; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40359/08]

Written Answers — Cancer Screening Programme: Cancer Screening Programme (30 Sep 2008)
Joe Carey: …for Health and Children if she will provide a breakdown of the €1,359,996 professional costs contained in the non-pay revenue costs section of the accounts published in the 2006-2007 annual BreastCheck report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31954/08]