Thumbs-up for screening unit’s new home

The new home for the Humberside Breast Screening Service – within the grounds of St Hugh’s Hospital, in Peaks Lane, Grimsby – has the thumbs-up from local women.

As reported, in April, we welcomed the Humberside Breast Screening Service’s mobile scanner unit on site.

It will be the scanner’s home, in a zero rental agreement, until February 2022, after which the van will move on to a different part of the region before it is scheduled to return in August 2022.

Lesley Peacock, programme manager for the Humberside Breast Screening Service, said: “We’re really pleased to be working with St Hugh’s as their support has enabled us to continue offering local, community-based breast screening to women from the Grimsby area.

“It has been lovely to be able to welcome women on board the mobile screening unit and to see that, in the main, concerns about Covid-19 are not deterring them from taking up this important opportunity.

“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback about the site and the service, and staff continue to work hard to keep women safe and feeling well supported.”

For some time, the service had been searching for a more permanent location – and we were very happy to offer a site to ensure women could continue to be screened locally.

As we reported in April, more than 150,000 women across the Humber region aged 50 to 70 are routinely invited for screening every three years via their GP surgery. In North East Lincolnshire, uptake averages just 66%, reinforcing the need to make screening as easy and accessible as possible.

Ashley Brown, the director of St Hugh’s, said: “We understand how important screening services are and I’m delighted to be able to offer our space at without any rental fees. It’s important that local women have a convenient and accessible location to visit.”

• The Humberside Breast Screening Service provides free breast screening for women across Hull, East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire.  Almost 150,000 women from the local area aged between 50 and 70 are invited every three years for breast screening. The screening procedure itself takes around 6 minutes and a full mammogram appointment usually takes no longer than 30 minutes. It is estimated that the NHS Breast Screening Programme saves the lives of 1,400 women in England every year. For more information, visit www.hey.nhs.uk/hbss

• St Hugh’s Hospital is a designated as a Super Green Site, meaning people who do not have coronavirus can safely undergo surgical procedures. If you have any queries regarding patient referrals to St Hugh’s, call the Choose and Book team on 01472 251100.