Concern at fall in breast screening appointments

Fewer than half of patients in Salford are accepting invitations to attend breast screenings, health bosses say.

Screening invitations are sent out to women aged between 50 and 71 across Greater Manchester but only 69% of women in Salford had accepted their invitation over the past year, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust said.

Dr Suzie Carrier, who is part of a team working to increase the uptake in Salford, said only 48% of patients in Ordsall, where she practises as a GP, had accepted their invitation over the past three years.

Jean, who put off her appointment for 13 years, told BBC Radio Manchester "it was much easier than I thought", after visiting a mobile screening unit in Salford.

"It was much better than 13 years ago when I had my last one, which was quite painful," she added.

"This wasn't painful at all. Much easier than I thought."

Jean said "anxiety" and "the embarrassment of the process" had put her off attending and she said she wanted to encourage people to "get over that, like I did today".

The areas with the lowest take-up in Salford tended to be Lower and Higher Broughton, Ordsall and around the Pendleton Gateway area including Langworthy, the trust reported.

The mobile breast screening units, including one located on Pendleton Gateway in Salford, were among the measures being used by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust to tackle the issue.

The unit in Salford moves to Irlam and Walkden over the three years screening cycle, the trust said.

Fazia Choudhury, who leads on breast screening in Salford, said: "We'll hear actually 'we didn't attend because it was too far for us' so we're like, right, okay, we could bring the mobile unit to make it more accessible to people."

She said the trust also worked with community groups to put on free tea and coffee events where they could talk to a variety of people to understand any barriers or concerns around breast screening.

Alix Hartley, who is programme manager for Manchester Breast Screening Programme, said: "Salford is one of our lower areas, particularly in some pockets of that area."

She said all woman aged between 50 and 71 and registered with a GP would automatically get an invitation to a breast screening in their local area every three years.

She said she wanted to reassure people that staff in the screening clinics were all female and they welcomed anyone who may have concerns to contact the screening unit.

She said that a common misconception was that screenings stopped when women were over 71, when this was not the case.

Women in this age range needed to contact their GP or the screening service to book their appointment, she added.

Ms Hartley also urged anyone concerned they might have missed their appointment to contact their GP or the screening service directly via 0161 2914444 or their website.

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