10,000 women still waiting for breast screening

Over 10,000 women in Northern Ireland are waiting for breast screening in the Northern Health Board area, it has been revealed.

The Northern Health and Social Services Board (NHSSB) covers the Council boundaries of Antrim, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Cookstown, Larne, Magherafelt, Moyle and Newtownabbey.

The waiting figure emerged after a consultant radiologist, who worked at three local hospitals, was suspended following concerns over his clinical judgement.

A review of former patients revealed that 17 women had with breast cancer were wrongly given the all-clear.

Since then, the Northern Board suspended its screening programme and it is not expected to resume again until August.

It is understood that over 10,000 women aged between 50 and 64 and who live in the board area, have not had routine breast cancer checks, and this delay could mean that some women will have the early stages of breast cancer going undiagnosed.

The estimated increased risk of dying because of the delay in diagnosis ranges from 2% to 10%.

Ulster Unionist Assembly Member for Mid-Ulster, Billy Armstrong MLA has today condemned the Northern Health & Social Services Board for not having in place contingency plans for breast screening and left many vulnerable people unable to have early detection of breast cancer in the board area.

Mr Armstrong said: “It is a absolute scandal that we now have a situation that about 10,000 women are now caught in a backlog for breast screening service in the Northern Health Board area and that figure is set to rise.

"The board should recognise that this is a matter of life and death for women in this most vulnerable age group and early detection is key in survival rates of the disease. This is a disease, which strikes fear into everyone, and the breast-screening programme offers women reassurance that they are free of the disease."

"It is all very well to suspend services after the revelation last year over fears that a consultant’s work at the Antrim Hospital, about his “clinical Judgement” and this resulted in over 7,600 patients having to be re-assessed and possible incorrect diagnosis," he concluded.

(EF/SP)