Press release
Minister for Health launches the National Screening Advisory Committee’s Annual Call for Submissions 2023
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has today launched the National Screening Advisory Committee’s (NSAC) Annual Call 2023.
NSAC is an independent committee which makes recommendations to the Minister for Health on the introduction of new population-based screening programmes or changes to existing programmes.
The Annual Call invites members of the public and health professionals to make submissions on screening programmes in Ireland. These submissions are important in informing the work programme of the Committee, with three recommendations having already been made to the Minister, based on the submissions received from the Annual Calls in 2021 and 2022. The most recent of these was the recommendation to add Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) to the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening (NBS) Programme.
Minister Donnelly said:
"I am a strong advocate for the continued expansion of Ireland’s screening programmes. As we all know, screening saves lives, and I look forward to further progress being made in this area.
"As Minister for Health, it is important to me that people have an opportunity to have a say in the future of screening in Ireland and I encourage people to do so by making submissions."
The Chair of the NSAC, Dr Suzanne Crowe said:
"Calls for submissions are important processes that help to inform the work of the National Screening Advisory Committee. Submissions received through the 2021 and 2022 calls have had a direct impact on the significant progress that has been made to date on changes made to our national population health screening programmes.
"We are pleased to launch our 2023 call for submissions, and I encourage people to submit their proposals and ideas."
The Annual Call will remain open until 5pm on Friday 1 March 2024. Full details on how to make a submission are available at www.nsacommittee.gov.ie.
NSAC is an independent advisory committee which advises the Minister and Department of Health on all new proposals for population-based screening programmes and changes to existing programmes. Go to gov.ie/NSAC for more information. The NSAC Annual Report 2022 is also available on the website.
Updates on the 2021 and 2022 Call proposals are available on www.nsacommittee.gov.ie.
1: Addition of Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency - Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (ADA-SCID) as the ninth condition to the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Programme.
2: Modification of the National Diabetic Retinal Screening Programme, to extend the interval between screens from one to two years for people with diabetes who are at low risk of retinopathy.
3: Modification of the National BowelScreen Programme, to adopt guidelines to ensure that BowelScreen is aligned with current clinical practice across the symptomatic service in the Health Service Executive.
4: Addition of the group of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) conditions to the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening (NBS) Programme.
5: Addition of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) to the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Programme.
The National Screening Advisory Committee continuously reviews the structure of the Call for Submissions process, including the frequency and format of future calls.