To ask the Minister of Health how his Department plans to strengthen early intervention and screening programmes to identify at-risk individuals and prevent the progression of preventable cancers.

Health inequalities is one of my key areas of focus and the ‘Live Better’ approach designed to tackle health inequalities by bringing targeted health support to communities which need it most. The approach is focusing initially on Health and Social Care services and will look at better alignment of, and access to, existing resources and services. Early intervention and prevention will be key components of the Live Better approach.

There are currently three cancer screening programmes in Northern Ireland: bowel, breast and cervical cancer. A fourth programme, a targeted lung screening programme for those at higher risk of disease, is at the early stages of development.

The Cancer Strategy for Northern Ireland (2022-32) contains three recommendations relating to screening programmes, in line with the UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) recommendations:

Action 7: Reduce sensitivity levels and extend the age range for the bowel screening programme;

Action 8: Implement HPV testing in the cervical screening programme; and

Action 10: implement all UK National Screening Committee recommendations.

The NI Cervical Screening Programme introduced HPV testing in December 2023 and I recently announced in my three-year strategic plan for health and social care, targets for the bowel screening and lung screening programmes doh-hsc-3-year-plan.pdf.

My Department will continue to be guided by the recommendations of the UK NSC. However, as with all screening programmes, screening is for people without symptoms. People who are concerned about, or are experiencing any unusual symptoms, should seek advice from their GP.

For people experiencing symptoms referred by their GP, in addition to the usual referral routes into specialist hospital services, two Rapid Diagnosis Centres (RDCs) are currently in operation, delivering a regional service for patients with vague but concerning symptoms that could indicate cancer.

The RDCs aim to see the patient within 14 days from the date of the GP referral which is significantly faster than the majority of tumour specific red flag referrals. Officials are currently seeking to identify and assess several proposals for red flag cancer pathways that could benefit from being delivered through an RDC. Using the RDC model to deliver elements of these pathways has the potential to diagnose patients faster, shorten treatment pathway times and reduce wating lists.