Health Minister welcomes landmark regional breast assessment initiative at Ulster Hospital

The new Regional model, now fully operational, consolidates all patients referred for urgent Breast Cancer assessment from across the five Health and Social Care Trusts onto a single, centrally managed waiting list.

Led by the South Eastern Trust, this model is a significant milestone in improving access to timely and equitable diagnostic care for patients with suspected Breast Cancer.

The core objective is to equalise the waiting times for patients across Northern Ireland, mitigating the "postcode lottery" that has historically led to variances in access to red flag assessment.

By creating a unified regional list, we can now ensure that all patients are seen based on clinical need, with the opportunity to be offered the earliest available appointment across any of the five Health and Social Care Trust areas.

Impressed to see the service in action, Mr Nesbitt said: “Having a standardised Regional service wherever possible is my ambition and my vision, when I discovered that the waiting list for breast screening appointments varied, some were very good, some were not so good with longer waits.

“By making it one service, one booking system, means we establish equity across the whole of Northern Ireland.

"I think that is really important for people who are worried about themselves that they get a timely appointment and get a result.

"They are getting a result and they are certainly getting cleared on the day when they come for their assessment.

“I think nearly everybody is prepared to travel. But, of course, they have got the choice. The next available appointment might be some distance away from where they live, but if patients would rather wait and go to their local hospital, that is their choice.

“I would like to see every service, every procedure being a regionalised, standardised service across Northern Ireland and where it is possible to accomplish that through a Central Regional Booking System, I want to see it done.”

South Eastern Trust, Consultant Surgeon, Ms Lynn Darragh highlighted the importance of the new service stating: “We would like to be able to see everybody within the standard timeframe of two weeks after they have been referred.

“The demand is so high, that our capacity is not enough to see all those patients promptly.

“Our priority, firstly, is to make access to the service equal and then work on increasing capacity so that we can reduce waiting lists."

Explaining the new service, Operations Manager for Cancer Services, Robert McCormac commented: “Patients are referred into their local Trust and they join a central waiting list in the South Eastern Trust. After triage, they are booked onto the system by the Booking Team.

"The longest waiting patient is at the top of that list and they are contacted first. The patient will be offered the first available appointment, which could be anywhere in Northern Ireland.

“The benefits of the system for the patient is a single waiting list with equity of service and every patient is being treated the same across Northern Ireland.”