Warrington South MP Andy Carter has welcomed the announcement from the Government that women in Warrington will benefit from new investment for better diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
Warrington Hospital is set to receive an upgrade to patient facilities within the existing mobile screening unit, alongside a new static screening unit and a hardware upgrade of new mammography equipment, delivered this financial year. The hardware upgrades and those to the mobile unit will be used to reach areas where uptake and coverage needs improvement, and the static unit coming to Warrington will boost screening capacity so that more appointments can be offered.
These new units and service upgrades will allow more women to be screened earlier improving outcomes for patients. Areas in receipt of funding have been selected after work with providers and commissioners to areas that would most benefit from additional Breast Screening Units and upgrades to equipment, helping to tackle health disparities and improve diagnosis rates.
Andy Carter MP said: “I’ve seen for myself the pressures on our health service when I visited Warrington Hospital recently. I’m delighted that our local NHS will now be receiving more investment that will go towards making sure the most modern and accessible breast screening services are available for women in our town.
“Over the last few years the NHS has faced unprecedent challenges caused by the pandemic. This additional funding will go towards providing extra capacity for our services to recover from the impact of Covid, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, tackle health disparities and contribute towards higher early diagnosis rates in line with our NHS Long Term Plan.”
Dr Furhan Razzaq, Consultant Radiologist and Director of Breast Screening said: “We are delighted to have received this funding, enabling us to upgrade our static and mobile mammography units and we are looking forward to installing the new, state of the art static screening equipment at Bath Street Health and Wellbeing Centre in Warrington Town Centre once the building works are complete. This will enable us to provide a better, more efficient service which is excellent news for our patients.”
Health Minister Helen Whately MP said: “A cancer diagnosis can be terrifying but it is vital that this cruel disease is detected as soon as possible and then treated. It is also important that women can access high quality healthcare wherever they live and this investment helps deliver that. These units mean more targeted services are available on people’s doorsteps ensuring we have the best chance at detecting and treating breast cancer.”
The funding is now in place for NHS trusts to spend within the 2022/23 financial year and the timing for delivery of units will be individual to each trust. The commitment to provide additional breast screening units was made in the Women’s Health Strategy published in July 2022 which is designed to improve equality of healthcare.
The Government has also committed to improving diagnosis, treatment and survival rates as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. By 2028, the government has committed to 75% of people with cancer being diagnosed at stages 1 and 2, up from 55% and for 55,000 more people each year to survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis.
Each year more than two million women have breast cancer screening in the UK. Screening saves around 1,300 women every year with around 21,000 cancers detected. This investment in breast screening units will continue to increase capacity to detect and deliver life-saving treatment.
