Breast cancer check for Chelmsford women
11 October 2011
Women living in Chelmsford are being invited to the breast unit at Broomfield Hospital for routine mammograms as part of the NHS Breast Screening Programme.
A total of 7,443 women aged 50-70 will be invited to the unit at Broomfield Hospital for a breast x-ray over the next year.
A purpose-built breast unit opened in the hospital's new PFI wing 12 months ago. Previously, women living in Chelmsford went to the Chelmsford & Essex Centre in New London Road for screening.
The new unit (A104) is located on the ground floor, just off the main atrium, and was the first service to open in the new PFI wing of the hospital in October last year.
It is an integrated breast unit and provides the full range of breast screening, screening assessment and symptomatic breast services all in one department. It is equipped with the latest digital mammography machines.
Invitations for screening are being sent out approximately three weeks in advance of appointments and can be changed easily if the time or location is inconvenient.
Anne Pugh, Breast Screening Nurse with the Chelmsford and Colchester NHS Breast Screening Service, said: "It is estimated that routine breast screening saves the lives of 1,400 women in England every year.
"It can help to find small changes in the breast before there are any other signs or symptoms, so we advise women to take up their invitation for a mammogram."
The Chelmsford and Colchester NHS Breast Screening Service is run by Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust and Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust.
It provides breast screening for women at Broomfield Hospital and Essex County Hospital, Colchester, and also from two mobile screening units which move around the area.
The NHS Breast Screening Programme, which was set up in 1988, aims to detect breast cancer at a very early stage and provides free breast screening every three years for all women in the UK aged 50-70.
Because the programme is a rolling one which invites women from GP practices in turn, not every woman will receive an invitation as soon as she is 50. However, every woman is guaranteed to receive her first invitation before her 53rd birthday.
Once women reach the upper age limit for routine invitations for breast screening, they are encouraged to make their own appointment. Women aged 71 or over are able to do so by phoning the Screening Booking Office on 01206 744749.
* Anyone wanting more information about breast screening for women from Chelmsford is asked to phone Anne Pugh, Breast Screening Nurse, on 01206 744645.
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