Listening with interest to the storm surrounding screening for cervical cancer. We have had lots of media contact for the last few days as, it appears have others. There will be a review but it needs to be more root and branch than is being contemplated. Don’t get too focused on one aspect of an entire system that is failing women. A fatality as a result of a failure in the breast cancer system is no less disgraceful than the cases in the news today. Judging by the numbers that we see in my office alone there is an issue there. A fundamental review of our entire cancer detection and treatment system is needed. Here is a link to the HSE breast cancer referral guidelines for GPs which everyone should be aware of: https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/5/cancer/archive/statistics/breast-cancer-referral-guideline.pdf
James McSweeney 01/05/2018