North Manchester General Hospital
Breast Screening is currently being offered at North Manchester General Hospital. Screening started on Monday 1 August 2011 and will run until the end of November 2011.

This is for women living, or who have their GP in the Cheetham, Crumpsall, Collyhurst and Higher Blackley areas. The screening will be provided at one of the new mobile digital screening units, which is based behind the Post Graduate Centre, located just by the main entrance to the Hospital.

Withington Community Hospital
Breast screening is also taking place at Withington Community Hospital and will run until the end of October 2011. Screening invitations are being sent out to women who live in the Northenden area, which covers the Northenden and Brooklands wards.

For more information, please call 0161 291 4444 or visit the website:

You will receive an invitation to be screened if you are of eligible age and a patient at one of the following practices, please take the time to attend your appointment: RK Medical, Peel Hall Medical, Tregenna, Benchill Medical, Bowland Medical, Cornishway Group and Maples Medical.

If you receive an invitation letter and cannot make the appointment time, did you know that you can change your breast screening appointment by calling the Nightingale Centre on 0161 291 4444? Or by going online to the Greater Manchester Breast Screening Programme website:
www.breast-screening.uhsm.nhs.uk If you are over 70 and have not been screened for over 3 years you are also welcome to telephone 0161 291 4444 and request an appointment.

The breast screening unit will be in Wythenshawe until May 2011 and if you would like to share your experiences of breast screening in Manchester, please email talkinghealth@manchester.nhs.uk, telephone 0161-765-4168 or text 07813-209-775.

Following the death of Jade Goody in March 2009, we have had a lot of enquiries and questions asking about the reasons why women under 25 are NOT invited or can (in most circumstances) access regular cervical screening which is also known as smear testing

This is because changes in the young cervix are normal. If they were thought to be abnormal this could lead to unnecessary treatment which could have consequences for women's childbearing. Any abnormal changes can be easily picked up and treated from the age of 25. Rarely, younger women experience symptoms such as unexpected bleeding or bleeding after intercourse. In this case they should see their GP for advice.

In June 2009 the Advisory Committee on Cervical Screening reviewed the policy of starting screening at age 25 and agreed unanimously there should be no change in the current policy.

The ‘Don’t be a cancer chancer’ campaign has been designed to promote greater awareness of the signs of 3 major cancers – lung, breast and bowel.

The figures available to us illustrate the devastating effect cancer can have on people and how early detection can be the difference between life and death.

Cancer is a disease which can grow and spread and it is this progression which can make it more difficult to cure. The longer you leave it, the stronger it will become, and the harder it is to defeat.

• One in three people will develop cancer - and one in four people will die from cancer
  
• About 15,000 people across Greater Manchester develop cancer each year
  
• About 7,000 people in Greater Manchester will die each year from cancer.

Focusing on early detection, rather than smoking or diet
Good work is already taking place to address cancer prevention such as smoking cessation and healthy eating but this campaign specifically focuses on early diagnosis. For the three most common cancers, early detection is known to have the following effects on survival:

• For bowel cancer, you are almost twice as likely to be cured if it is spotted early
• For lung cancer, you are three times as likely to be cured if caught before the cancer spreads
• 95% of breast cancer patients are cured if their cancer is spotted early and has not spread
• 80% of patients who have breast cancer can be cured even the cancer has spread but this figure falls dramatically if the cancer spreads further

The Campaign
The campaign will run across Manchester in March and April 2009 to encourage people to self-check. We are doing everything we can to help people recognise symptoms and act appropriately by encouraging them to see their GP as early as possible.

The campaign aims to communicate to people the signs they should look out for and what to do (see a doctor) in a very simple, straightforward way.
The campaign is aimed at the over 50’s and a number of tactics are being used to intensely target areas where there are more people over 50 and where we know people tend to delay visiting their GP, even if they have symptoms.
With help from supporters of the campaign, materials will be distributed across Manchester from week commencing 23rd March 2009. People will see advertising and receive information via door-to-door leafleting, posters sited at the roadside and on large billboards. Materials will be distributed throughout the local community in GP surgeries, pharmacies, shops, launderettes, bingo halls and libraries. We will reach the public in the pub, the street and even in the hairdressers.
The local press will also be publicising the campaign; so we trust that the all-important messages will not be missed.

• See the campaign resources here