BREAST cancer screening is set to move from Liverpool Women’s Hospital under a new city-wide plan.
The service would be provided at Broadgreen Hospital instead.
Screening rates in Merseyside are set to go up under new Government guidelines which increase the current age range of 50-63years to 50-70 years.
Health chiefs said current services at the Women’s would not meet this demand and added that new digital equipment was needed.
Board papers read: “The preferred option was relocation to Broadgreen Hospital and the key factors were an improved service delivery, superior facilities, as well as a faster more efficient IT system connectivity to enable the roll out of digital mammography.
“Although the move would mean that some patients have further to travel analysis on a ward by ward basis actually indicates that accessibility would improve for nearly twice as many women as for whom it would decline.”
The proposal will be discussed at a city council scrutiny meeting tomorrow.
If a problem is spotted through screening patients are referred to the Linda McCartney Centre at the Royal Liverpool Hospital and this will not change.
A consultation is due to begin in the coming weeks.
The new facility at Broadgreen would be purpose-built, and health chiefs said this would provide a better environment for patients.
The papers said it would be difficult for services at the Women’s to meet privacy standards and also for them to fit in with a new NHS IT system for screening: They continued: “There is limited physical space at Liverpool Women’s Hospital which might not cope with this requirement (privacy), particularly if the building needed to expand. The national information system for breast screening is incompatible with Liverpool Women’s Hospital’s IT system and a series of tests to resolve the problems have been unsuccessful.
“The switch from analogue mammography to digital means that the system will have to manage and transmit digital images, rather than just the admin data. This will place considerable extra pressure on the system and poses a significant risk to the screening service.”
The changes would not affect three mobile mammography units used in Merseyside.
A spokesperson for the Women’s said: “Liverpool Women’s has hosted this service for many years and will continue to work with all parties to ensure that women of Liverpool are able to access the best possible services available.”
