The North Lancashire and South Cumbria Breast Screening Service is now inviting women by "next test due date" rather than by GP Practice, as they have in the past.

Open invitations will be sent informing women that their mammogram is due and asking them to contact the breast screening service to book an appointment, all details will be provided in their communication.

Ring 01524 583050 if you are due screening but have not received an invite, or if you are over 73. 

The National Bowel Screening Campaign

This screening programme is a national project which aims to improve the early diagnosis of bowel cancer in people aged 60 and over.  We already know that this programme is saving lives and can pick up cancer of the bowel at very early stages and can also prevent some cancers that may develop in the future.

I agree that the test itself is not very pleasant – collecting a small sample of stool on three occasions is never going to be a pleasant past-time.  But if bowel cancer is detected early it can be completely curable!

The purpose of this letter is to try and encourage you to take up this offer of screening.  It does not cost anything other than a little of your time. 

So if you have not already completed the test, see if you can find the pack and go ahead.  However if you have binned it (as I suspect many people will) then you can ring 0800 707 6060 for a replacement pack.  The packs are bar coded so unfortunately we cannot issue them from surgery.  Go on – give it a go – a few minutes of discomfort may save your life.

What happens if your test is positive? – you will be called in to a local centre to discuss further investigations – our centre is in Kendal – so fortunately close to hand.  But reassuringly, even with a positive result only one in five of these positive results turn out to be cancer and if caught early it can be curable.

People over 75 who wish to be screened can also request a kit by calling 0800 707 6060.

Read more on the web site  http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/bowel/

Bowel Scope Screening at 55 years

This screening programme is a national project which aims to improve the early diagnosis of bowel cancer. We already know that this programme is saving lives and can pick up cancer of the bowel at very early stages and can also prevent some cancers that may develop in the future. This is a one off flexible sigmoidoscopy being offered to everyone as they reach the age of 55 year.

So if you have not been called for this test and yor are 55 years old, then you can ring 0800 707 6060 for an appointment.

When you are 60 you will be offered a different bowel screening test (as above).