Europa Donna Ireland published an Irish Breast Cancer Charter in 2006, setting down 23 principles which specialist centres across the country should meet. The Charter was the result of discussion by over 150 women at Europa Donna Ireland's 1st National Conference held in May 2006 and was designed to ensure Irish breast cancer centres followed international best practice in delivering services in Ireland and most importantly to give women standards by which to measure services.
The Charter states that women in Ireland have the right to be referred promptly to a specialist breast centre with a multidisciplinary team of breast surgeon, breast nurse, radiologist, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist. It further states that women have the right to a firm diagnosis within two weeks, to be seen in a private environment, to be examined by a consultant at appropriate regular intervals, to be given relevant and timely information on current and future fertility options, to a second opinion and to have access to a prosthesis fitting service by a skilled practitioner. The Charter sets out as a right regular and free access to screening from age 50 onwards.
Download the Irish Breast Cancer Charter (PDF 65KB)