Cash crisis is 'creating postcode lottery for breast scans'

Missed targets on breast cancer screening are putting women's lives at risk, a leading doctor said today.

Professor Kefah Mokbel, a London cancer specialist, warned that a worsening NHS cash crisis was to blame for patients facing delays.

Women between 50 and 70 should be checked for breast cancer every three years under a government pledge.

But new figures published today reveal patients across London face a postcode lottery over breast X-rays, with some cancer units missing the 36-month target.

The worst-performing screening units are seeing just one in five patients on average within the recommended timeframe.

In north London, only one in five eligible women gets a breast X-ray every three years, the second-worst level in the country, behind Brighton.

The City and east London also lag behind, at just over 75 per cent.

Yet units in west London see 98 per cent of women within 36 months and in south-east London 92 per cent are screened every three years.

Professor Mokbel, from St George's Hospital in Tooting, believes even three years is too long. Patients should be checked more regularly, he said.

The consultant breast surgeon said: "There has not been any significant improvement (in waiting times) and this is down to limited resources. It is going to get worse over the next year or so because of cuts in the budget. Even a three-year interval remains very long.

Women should really be seen every 12-18 months. The programme saves lives, but we would save even more lives if we reduced the interval."

His comments come as the NHS faces a budget freeze this year and the prospect of cuts after the next election, with the Tories suggesting a reduction in the payments hospitals get for carrying out medical procedures.