Cancer checks to resume
Scotland’s national breast cancer screening programme is to restart.
Health secretary Jeane Freeman said women due to be screened during the pause will now be invited for appointments, but warned full resumption of the service might take some time.
Scotland’s national breast cancer screening programme is to restart from 3 August, with appointment letters being sent out from yesterday, as more NHS services resume as the coronavirus lockdown is eased.
Health secretary Jeane Freeman said that the women who were due to be screened during the pause, will be invited for appointments, while other invitations to book appointments will also be sent out to women who would have been expecting to be seen at some point this year.
However she stressed that full resumption of the service might take some time due to the need for staggered appointments and physical distancing to keep patients and staff safe.
Ms Freeman revealed breast cancer screening would restart at the government’s daily coronavirus briefing, bringing the service into line with cervical, diabetic retinopathy and abdominal aortic aneurysm screening which have already been given the green light to start again.
“Anyone who was invited for a breast screening appointment before the pause and was either unable to attend or had the appointment cancelled will receive a letter in the coming weeks,” she said. “If your appointment was cancelled then the letter will have a specified time of an appointment, if you couldn’t make an appointment yourself you will be given an invitation to contact the clinic for a new appointment. Breast cancer screening invitations for those who would in normal course be due an invitation now will slowly start to resume this week as well.”
Ms Freeman added: “Additional measures have been introduced to allow screening to take place in a safe environment. Staff will wear PPE, and appointment times will be staggered to ensure that waiting areas are quieter and physical distancing can be observed. It will take some time to get the system up and running again but it is an important further step in restarting important NHS activities.”
Ms Freeman said she did not have the “exact numbers of women” who would have been affected by the pause, but NHS Scotland would know who they were and that they would receive appointment letters. “In terms of how long it will take, although it’s a national screening programme, each of our NHS boards is working to their own plan to ensure that we have equity for women across the country. We don’t know exactly how long it will take for the group that were paused to be caught up with, bearing in mind we’re restarting in parallel with that the normal screening programme.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-hamilton said the resumption of breast cancer screening was “extremely good news” but stressed the resources needed to in place to “clear the backlog.” Marion O’neill, head of external affairs at Cancer Research UK, added: “It is great news that breast cancer screening services are returning. Although screening has both benefits and harms, we know cancer screening programmes saves lives.
“If you notice any unusual changes to your body that don’t go away, talk to your doctor.”