Health Minister visits new regional breast assessment booking centre
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Health Minister Mike Nesbitt visited Northern Ireland's new regional breast assessment booking centre just weeks after launching the major reform initiative.
The Minister's visit highlights his ongoing commitment to tackling long standing inequalities in breast cancer care and the unacceptable variations in waiting times that had existed between different Health and Social Care Trusts across the province.
Launched in early May 2025, the new centralised regional assessment booking service provided by South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (SEHSCT) is supported with assessment clinics located in each of the five Trusts, ensuring that all patients referred with suspected breast cancer are seen at the earliest opportunity based on clinical need, rather than their postcode. This initiative is part of the Minister's wider efforts to improve patient outcomes and increase public confidence in diagnostic services.
During the visit to the Ulster Hospital site, the Health Minister met with the centralised administration team alongside the clinicians and staff responsible for the delivery of one of the five regional clinics.
Minister Nesbitt praised the collaborative effort behind the reform:
"This is a change built on partnership. It has been achieved through genuine co-production between clinicians, Trusts, administration teams and, most importantly, the patients we serve. I want to thank everyone involved in making this major reform possible.
"I launched this service to ensure that all women across Northern Ireland have fair and timely access to potentially life-saving assessments. It's heartening to now meet the administration team, clinicians, nurses and patients who are seeing the benefits of this reform. This is a powerful example of how regional working can lead to better, more equitable care.
"The rollout has been supported by the implementation of the encompass electronic patient record system, now live across all Health and Social Care Trusts. This digital infrastructure enables coordinated appointment booking across the region and improves the use of available capacity.
"The regional waiting list will not fix all the issues impacting breast services in Northern Ireland, however it is an important first step. To support wider reform of services, an additional Pound 5m has also been secured to increase core capacity for assessment
and surgery across the region."
The South Eastern Trust is managing the regional waiting list through a centralised administrative team. While most patients will continue to attend their local hospital, they may be offered an earlier appointment at one of five acute hospital sites: Altnagelvin Area Hospital (Western Trust), Antrim Area Hospital (Northern Trust), Belfast City Hospital (Belfast Trust), Craigavon Area Hospital (Southern Trust), or Ulster Hospital Dundonald (South Eastern Trust).
Currently, the regional system applies only to red flag breast cancer referrals. Patients with other breast-related symptoms will continue to be seen through local pathways. However, the wider review of breast services will set standards and make recommendations for the delivery of all symptomatic breast services.
The Minister's visit also aligns with broader efforts to reform health services in Northern Ireland and the importance of consolidating assessment and surgical services while ensuring that aftercare and chemotherapy are provided as close to patients' homes as possible. This approach reflects a patient-centred model of care, recognising the need for both specialised treatment and accessible follow up services.
In addition to the regional assessment clinic, Minister Nesbitt has been involved in other initiatives aimed at enhancing cancer care. The Minister recently attended the launch of a landmark study on metastatic breast cancer at Stormont which provided the first estimates of people living with this condition in Northern Ireland. The study highlighted the need for improved data collection and the development of dedicated care pathways for metastatic breast cancer patients.
Furthermore, Minister Nesbitt officially opened Cancer Focus NI's new Regional Therapeutic Cancer Support Centre in Enniskillen. This centre, to which the Department of Health has contributed funding of Pound 418,624, is part of a broader strategy to provide specialist services closer to home, offering practical, emotional, and social support for people with cancer and their families.
These initiatives collectively represent a significant step forward in the transformation of cancer services in Northern Ireland, aiming to provide timely, equitable, and patient-centered care for all individuals affected by cancer.
