A Specialist Breast Centre is the best place to see if you have breast cancer and if so, the right treatment for you.
Specialist Breast Centres have highly trained and experienced experts, who
A Specialist Breast Centre is the best place to see if you have breast cancer and if so, the right treatment for you.
Specialist Breast Centres have highly trained and experienced experts, who
- work in teams,
- use the latest research
- are themselves involved in research
- see enough new cases to keep their skills up to date.
Our policy on Specialist Breast Centres
EDI supports the concept of Specialist Breast Centres; international research has shown that diagnosis and treatment in specialised centres improve survival rates for women diagnosed with breast cancer by 25 to 30%. We support the current plan to develop 8 specialist centres. EDI acknowledges the concerns of a number of local communities and calls for an urgent review of the common expenses and issues encountered by patients travelling for diagnosis and treatment.
The Specialist Breast Centres work according to quality assurance standards for symptomatic breast disease services. The standards are similar to the European Commission European Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis. 4th ed. 2006. A shortened version of the European guidelines has been published in several languages by EUROPA DONNA and can be downloaded from www.europadonna.org.
National Quality Assurance Standards for Symptomatic Breast Disease Services.
Developing Quality Care for Breast Services in Ireland. 2006 (PDF).
HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) has recently completed a review of symptomatic breast disease services in Ireland :
Report of the National Quality Review of Symptomatic Breast Disease Services in Ireland. 2010 (PDF)
For further information
Download the EDI leaflet on Specialist Breast Centres
See the National Cancer Control Programme's leaflet on SBCs
Specialist Breast Centres in Ireland
- Cork:
- Cork University Hospital
- Dublin:
- Beaumont Hospital,
- Mater Misericordiae University Hospital,
- St. James’ Hospital,
- St Vincent’s University Hospital
- Galway:
- Galway University Hospital,
- Letterkenny General Hospital (Satellite clinic of Galway)
- Limerick:
- Mid-Western Regional Hospital
- Waterford:
- Waterford Regional Hospital.
