BreastCheck returns to Waterford

- 21 October 2011

BreastCheck – The National Breast Screening Programme is delighted to announce that free breast screening will be provided to approximately 7,500 women in Waterford aged 50 to 64 from a mobile digital screening unit located in the grounds of Waterford Regional Sports Complex. Screening is scheduled to begin on 1 November 2011 and women will receive their invitations to screening by post.

BreastCheck has commissioned an extra mobile digital screening unit from Nuffield Health, a leading provider of breast screening services in the UK, to begin the return screening of women living in Waterford City. Nuffield Health has provided additional support to BreastCheck screening in other counties, and the mobile unit uses the same high standard digital mammography equipment as BreastCheck. The mobile will be staffed by experienced Nuffield Health radiographers who operate within the strict quality assurance guidelines of BreastCheck.

As in 2009, all breast x-rays (mammograms) taken at the mobile unit will be read by two specially trained BreastCheck radiologists at the BreastCheck Southern Unit. Any woman who requires further assessment following her mammogram will be invited to the BreastCheck Southern Unit in Cork City. However, the vast majority of women screened by BreastCheck are found to be perfectly healthy.

Commenting on the return of BreastCheck to Waterford City, Majella Byrne, Acting Director of the National Cancer Screening Service said: “BreastCheck first provided women in Waterford with free breast screening in 2009 and we are delighted to return to Waterford City two years later. While this time women are being invited to a mobile unit operated by Nuffield Health, I want to reassure all women that the service they receive will be the exact same as the service they received in 2009. The mobile unit looks the same on the inside, the mammogram is taken in the same way, the mobile has the same mammography equipment and women’s mammograms are read by the same BreastCheck staff. BreastCheck received a great response from women in Waterford City during the last screening round and we hope to experience the same high levels of uptake on our return.”

Appointments are being sent to women by post, starting with women living in Waterford City. Any woman who receives an appointment for a time or date that doesn’t suit can ring the BreastCheck Southern Unit on 021 464 9700 to rearrange her appointment.

BreastCheck advises all women aged 50 to 64 to make sure their name is on the BreastCheck register by calling Freephone 1800 45 45 55 or checking online at www.breastcheck.ie. Once on the register and known to the programme, a woman will automatically receive her invitation for a mammogram when BreastCheck is screening in her area.