Cervical Cancer Screening

Cancer screening saves lives

Screening services in Ireland, including the CervicalCheck programme, have saved many lives.

Since the inception of the CervicalCheck programme in 2008, the incidence of cervical cancer has fallen on a yearly basis with over 50,000 high grade precancerous lesions detected and treated.

As a college, we are fully committed to supporting essential screening services and maintaining trust in our screening programmes.

Screening programmes are essential public health initiatives and RCPI, together with its Faculties and Institute, is actively engaging with all stakeholders to ensure that these services are maintained and available to the public.

Here you will find a summary of the activities undertaken since 2018 to support cancer screening services in Ireland.

Irish women deserve enormous credit for being so proactive about managing their health with 80% attending for smear tests under the CervicalCheck program over the last 10 years. As a result of such high levels of attendance we have seen a progressive decrease in the incidence of cervical cancer over the last decade.

Professor Dónal Brennan
Professor of Gynaecological Oncology, UCD and Member of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Responding to the CervicalCheck controversy

The Scoping Inquiry into the CervicalCheck Screening Programme resulted in a series of recommendations that relate to medical training and education.

We examined these recommendations closely and developed an implementation plan. To date, this led to an educational event on Women's Health, detailed below, and a free online course called Understanding Population Cancer Screening.

We are engaging extensively with a wide range of stakeholders to support screening and represent the views and concerns of our Trainees, Members and Fellows who are providing vital screening services.

We were asked by the HSE to provide any information from clinicians that might be relevant in considering the implications of the Cross Judgement for screening in Ireland in light of its appeal to the Supreme Court.

Our note, which cites international evidence, outlines

The basis for establishing and implementing screening programmes
The factors to be considered before determining whether a programme delivers more positive than negative outcomes and whether it should be continued
How the judgement might impact on the cervical screening programme
The potential consequences of changes in practice that might follow the adoption of this judgement

We brought these matters to the attention of the HSE to ensure that due consideration is given to the possible unforeseen consequences that might result from changes to practice as a result of the judgement.

Representing our members' views

Many of our Members and Fellows are actively involved in dealing with concerns surrounding screening programmes.

The Deans of the Faculties of Pathology and Public Health Medicine, Prof Louise Burke and Prof Emer Shelley and the Chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Dr Cliona Murphy, have, together with their colleagues, been actively engaging with the Department of Health, the HSE and other agencies on aspects of screening. Representatives have joined various committees that are inputting into the screening services and bringing the concerns of our Trainees, Members and Fellows to them.

Professor Mary Horgan, RCPI President, is a member of the CervicalCheck Steering Committee established by the Chief Medical officer, which also includes patient advocates.

Screening programmes are essential public health initiatives and RCPI, together with its Faculties and Institute, will continue to actively engage with all stakeholders to represent our members’ views and ensure the maintenance of cancer screening services for the public.

Dr Gabriel Scally’s report into the CervicalCheck screening programme made a series of recommendations that relate to medical training and education. RCPI and its training bodies are taking a leadership role at this critical time. Recent events have highlighted the limitations of screening and as healthcare professionals we are committed to supporting these essential services.

Professor Mary Horgan
President, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland

Educational and scientific event focused on Women’s Health

We held a one day educational and scientific event, Women’s Health, on 28 November 2018.

The event was organised by the Faculties of Pathology and Public Health Medicine and the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to explore issues arising from the CervicalCheck controversy. It was an opportunity to bring together medical experts, patient representatives, politicians and policy makers to consider Dr Gabriel Scally’s recommendations as they apply to medical practice, communication and women's health.

Among those who spoke were Minister for Health Simon Harris, Professor Marion Saville, a Cytopathologist and expert in the area of HPV and screening in Australia, Professor Deborah Money, a world-leading expert in infectious diseases in obstetrics and gynecology from the University of British Columbia in Canada, and Ms Lorraine Walsh, patient representative on the National Screening Committee.

You can view the full programme for the event here (PDF)

We have made a number of talks from this event available to watch on YouTube.

View the full playlist on YouTube