Why isn’t breast cancer screening (mammography) done through your GP?

Why isn’t breast cancer screening (mammography) done through your GP?

The short answer is .. it could be. Some cancer screening is done through your GP, like cervical cancer smear. But for historical reasons, this is not true of breast cancer. There is a national NHS Breast Screening Programme, which organises mammography, which are x-rays used to look for early breast cancer that you cannot feel. There are pros and cons of national organisation.

The test is very quick, and testing centres are usually in easily accessible places like your local supermarket carpark.

The programme provides free breast screening every three years for all women aged 50 and over. Because the programme is a rolling one which invites women from GP practices in turn, not every woman receives an invitation as soon as she is 50 (until 71) years. But she will receive her first invitation before her 53rd birthday. The system is coordinated by your near hospital breast cancer unit.

So what are the pros and cons?

Pros

• National organisation means that high national standards can be set
• GPs do not have to do chasing for people that do not engage with the system
• GPs would expect to do paid to co-ordinate the system.

Cons

• That it is done by a rolling system of one GP practice then the next, is an obvious disadvantage as some women will be unlucky and have potential cancers not picked for 3 years compared to other women
• It is easy for women moving around the UK, or not registered with a GP, to be missed
• Private GPs may not see screening as a priority, or ask to be paid more for it.