Expanded breast cancer screening delayed until 2030, says Health Ministry

It will take until 2030 before women with very dense breast tissue are offered an MRI scan in addition to a mammogram as part of breast cancer screening. Although funding has been secured under the Supplementary Health and Welfare Agreement (AZWA), caretaker State Secretary for Health Judith Tielen said that “several years of preparation and implementation” are still needed before the measure can be rolled out.

“I would have loved to introduce this measure yesterday,” Tielen said. “But rationally, I’ve had to make some difficult trade-offs.” She previously noted that several challenging decisions remain about the program’s design, such as how it will be organized and how frequently women will be offered MRI scans.

According to Tielen, the fastest way to introduce the extra screening would have been to make it part of the standard healthcare system and cover it through health insurance. But that approach would have meant that women were sent for MRI scans right after their mammograms, putting pressure on existing capacity and delaying access for patients with more urgent medical needs.

For that reason, Tielen plans to finance the extra scans through the national breast cancer screening program instead of the regular healthcare system. She said this would give health authorities greater control over capacity and help prevent other patients from losing access to MRI scans. The decision, she added, was made in close consultation with patient groups, medical professionals, and researchers.

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) will move forward with implementing the expanded breast cancer screening program as quickly as possible. Tielen said she intends to stay closely involved to make sure every opportunity to speed up the rollout is taken.

The Dutch Breast Cancer Association expressed disappointment that the expanded screening will not begin for another five years. “We’ve had the supporting evidence for years,” said the group’s director, Cristina Guerrero Paez.

While the association acknowledges that high-risk patients must have priority for MRI scans, it stresses that women with very dense breast tissue are themselves considered high-risk. “It’s difficult to justify making them wait even longer under the banner of risk protection, particularly when capacity exists,” the organization said.

It added that MRI resources could be managed more efficiently, pointing out that some of the scans currently being carried out are “less urgent from a medical standpoint.”