Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Health whether the Public Health Agency (PHA) has consulted with the Reader in Epidemiology at Newcastle University on how to improve the efficiency of the methodology and outcomes of investigations of suspected cancer clusters by the PHA and the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry.
Minister of Health: The Public Health Agency (PHA) met with the Reader in Epidemiology at Newcastle University. The purpose of the meeting was to explain to the academic the approach and analytical work undertaken by PHA and Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) in relation to investigations into suspected cancer clusters.
The PHA advised that the academic acknowledged the scope and depth of the Northern Ireland analysis. There was agreement that it is important to use fully validated data when undertaking comparative analysis.
He accepted the conclusion that the recent and historical childhood and young person incidences of cancers in and within Mid-Ulster Parliamentary Constituency were stable and that the Yorkshire Specialist Register of Cancer in Children and Young Adults in England has equivalent publication timelines for validated data, as has the NICR.
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