Women across Clare are being left without any indication of when mammography services will return to the county.Local GP Dr Tom Nolan told Irish Medical News that women in the county have been without breast cancer screening services for over a year, despite the public paying to have a mammography machine at Ennis General Hospital. Adding to concerns over breast cancer service in the region, the National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS) has been unable to give an estimate as to when BreastCheck will be available in Clare.
Speaking to IMN, Dr. Nolan from Kilrush said, “We did have mammography services in Ennis, but it was withdrawn well over a year ago. Women were able to go to the Regional Hospital in Limerick, but that stopped a few months ago. Now there are currently no free breast cancer screening services for women in Clare. They either have to give an address in another county, or they have to live somewhere else.”
A NCSS spokesperson confirmed that the BreastCheck programme in the Western unit would take a further 17 months to complete.
