My first NHS routine breast screening

I recently went for my first NHS routine breast screening. In Britain, the NHS offers free breast screening (mammograms) to women to catch breast cancer early and save lives. Women are invited every three years from age 50 to 71.

Invitations for your first breast screening are sent out between your 50th and 53rd birthdays. They are coordinated by your GP surgery. My GP surgery was very late with the Covid jabs, so I assumed it would be the case with the breast screening too. I was pleasantly surprised to receive my invitation just before I turned 51 and a half.

Breast screening isn’t compulsory. It is your own choice whether to go ahead, although to me it seemed like a no-brainer. I want to live a long and healthy life, and early diagnosis of breast cancer is one way to do that. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK. It kills around 12,000 women a year.

But survival rates have been improving and three out of four women diagnosed with breast cancer are still alive 10 years later. Although I’m sure most of us women of a certain age will know or know of someone who has died from breast cancer. For me, it was a close friend’s sister, who I had known as a child, who sadly passed away at 47.

I’m not sure if every NHS trust does things differently or the same. But once I’d received my letter, I had to make a phone call to book my appointment. There was no option to book online. I was given an appointment for two weeks from receipt of my letter.

In Gloucestershire, breast screening is carried out at a separate, dedicated facility, close to Cheltenham General Hospital. In some areas, the breast clinic will be held in the hospital or in a mobile unit. I’d read online that there was limited parking there and it was cash only. I could have parked at the hospital and paid by card, but finding parking at the hospital can be hit and miss. So I found some parking in a residential street about a 10 minute walk away.

I arrived 10 minutes before my appointment time and was actually seen five minutes early!

A mammogram is carried out by a specialist radiographer called a mammographer. A mammographer is always female. The mammographer carrying out my mammogram was friendly and professional. It felt as dignified as it could feel when a stranger is squashing your breasts!

It might seem obvious or not, but a mammogram is an X-ray. In fact, it’s four X-rays – one at the top of each breast and one at the side of each breast.

When I arrived, the mammographer discreetly swapped the clear perspex tray which is attached to the machine for a smaller one. They have them in lots of different sizes to cater for all sizes of breast.

Then I had to stand up close to the machine with legs apart. There was a bit of moving from side to side to get me into the exact right position. Then she put my breast into the tray and the machine started moving down to my breast. I wouldn’t say it was painful, but it was certainly uncomfortable. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, she moved the machine down the final bit using a handle until my boob was well and truly squished.

Then she told me to take a deep breath and hold it. She pressed a button for the X-ray to start and ran behind a screen for her own safety. Within seconds, the machine had beeped, the X-ray was done and I could breathe again. We then repeated the process with the left breast.

Getting into position for the X-rays to the side was even more awkward. The machine was tilted and I had to start with my hand on my head. Then when my body was in the right position, I had to reach my arm (the one on the same side as the breast being X-rayed) along the top of the machine. Then it was the same process with the machine coming down to the breast, feeling very uncomfortable and the mammographer moving the last bit with the handle.

Once more, I was instructed to take a deep breath and hold it, she ran behind a screen and the X-ray took just a few seconds. The machine beeped, I was able to breathe again and it was time to get me out and do it all over again on the left side.

The whole appointment was incredibly quick. From walking into the room to walking out again was only 10 minutes.

I was told I would get a letter with my results in two to three weeks. The leaflet I’d received in the post was quite reassuring – of 100 mammograms, 96 women have no sign of cancer and four women need more tests. Of those four, three women will have no cancer found and one woman will be diagnosed with cancer.

Obviously having a breast screening appointment every three years is a good way to catch cancer early, but the mammographer reminded me that it is important to keep checking my breasts regularly between appointments and to make an appointment with my GP if I have any concerns.

Two and a half weeks after my appointment, I got my letter confirming the mammogram had shown no sign of breast cancer. I hadn’t been worried, but it was nice to see it in black and white.

If you are approaching your first breast screening appointment and are feeling nervous, I hope this reassures you that it isn’t overly painful, nor is it in any way embarrassing or humiliating. I would advise anyone to make their appointment and get it done.