South West of Scotland Breast Screening Service - NHS Ayrshire ...

South West of Scotland Breast Screening Service• Area Covered – Ayrshire & Arran and Dumfries & Galloway• Population to be invited is almost 79,000 over 3 years (Period:2011/14)• The service is located within NHS Ayrshire & Arran, SWS Breast Screening Centre,Ayrshire Central Hospital, Kilwinning Road, IRVINE KA12 8SS.• The Centre is 1 of 6 Breast Screening Centres located throughout Scotland, theothers being, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness.• Irvine first opened its doors to women in September 1990. Eligible women from theTownhead Medical Practice, Irvine were the first to be invited to the Centre. Largswas the first mobile location• Female aged 50-70 years automatically invited for routine breast screening onceevery 3 years• Women 70+ years, although not automatically invited, can self refer once every 3years either by contacting their own GP or the Breast Screening Centre directly.• To be eligible for routine breast screening, women are required to be registered witha GP in Ayrshire & Arran and Dumfries & Galloway Health Boards - 94 GeneralPractices, 462 GPs in area.• We currently have 2 Mobile Units covering 29 locations through out the area and 2mammography units in the Centre. Mobile Screening Units are always staffed by 2female Radiographers – ‘Mammographers’• We operate a rolling 3 year (screening round) planned programme, visiting eachlocation once in each screening round.• Women are invited by practice within each screening location and town.• Women in and around the Irvine area are invited to attend the Centre in Irvine. Allothers are invited to attend 1 of our 2 mobile units located within the region.• Screening is by appointment only. We currently work Monday – Friday at all Mobileand Static Units. Our maintenance assistants/drivers attend the Mobile Units,cleaning the units, replenishing supplies, fresh water for washing hands, etc. Thereare no toilet facilities on board the Mobile Units, hence the need to site units withinclose confines of toilet facilities i.e. supermarkets, sports complexes, health centres,etc.• Invitation letters (appointments) are issued directly from the Centre and are mailedout approximately 3-4 weeks in advance.• Women have the right to remove their name at any time from the Breast ScreeningProgramme by signing a disclaimer letter. On receipt of the signed letter their namewill be removed from the programme and their GP notified of their decision. Howevershould she change her mind, at any time in the future, she can request to be reinstatedback into the programme.

• Result letters are issued to women and GPs within 10-15 working days of attendance(with exception of downtime due to Public Holidays, equipment service days, etc)• GPs are also notified of the outcome of further assessment, non attendance, declinedappointments, etc.• Women who fail to attend their 1 st invitation letter will receive a ‘reminder’ letter alongwith a supporting letter from their GP, within 7 working days of non attendance.Should they wish to make another appointment they can choose to attend any of ourscreening locations that are available at that time. Also available is the option toattend any of the other Scottish Breast Screening Centres if it is more convenient.• The Centre also accommodates the SWS Breast Screening Assessment/ReviewClinics held every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.• Symptomatic women – that is a woman who finds a lump, has dimpling, dischargefrom nipple, etc., who call to make an appointment are advised to contact their ownGP who will in turn arrange for an appointment at local Breast Clinic at CrosshouseHospital.• The Centre is also host to the University of Crosshouse Hospital (UCH) SymptomaticClinic on a Tuesday afternoon most weeks and also that of the UCH Benign BreastLump clinic on a Wednesday afternoon. Appointments and further information forboth these clinics is available from UCH, Medical Records Department.• We actively encourage women to be breast aware. The most important thing for allwomen, regardless of age, is to get to know what is normal for them and that theyshould tell their GP about any changes as soon as they spot them.• The South West of Scotland actively promotes a positive attitude taking on board allcomments/ suggestions made by the public and staff alike to enable the provision ofa better service to all eligible women in the South West of Scotland.For your free copy of NHS Scotland “Breast Screening – What you need to know”Please contact:Telephone Number: Irvine 01294 323506/7Fax: 01294 277104Or visit website: www.nhsaaa.net