HSE breast cancer screening programme misses targets for past two years

The HSE's national screening service for breast cancer has missed targets for the past two years.

Over 75,000 women were not screened as intended under the BreastCheck programme.

BreastCheck is a free breast screening programme for those aged 50 to 69 years, usually around every two years.

Around 3,500 new breast cancer cases are diagnosed in Ireland each year.

Last year, the HSE screened 137,134 women for breast cancer, compared to a target of 195,000.

In 2023, it examined just over 166,000 women, missing its target of 185,000 screenings.

In the two previous years, numbers were slightly above the HSE's goal. However, 2020 saw the lowest number of breast screenings, at just over 56,000.

The HSE said this was a result of the service being paused for several months because of the Covid pandemic.

The figures were released to Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín in response to a parliamentary question.