Somerset gets two brand new mobile breast screening units

Somerset women, or those registered with a GP as female, will benefit from quieter, more reliable breast screening after two ageing mobile units were replaced with brand new state-of-the-art scanning units.

The upgraded units, which travel across the county to bring screening closer to home, replace vehicles that had been in use for around 15 years and had become increasingly costly and difficult to maintain.

Lesley Stephenson, our superintendent radiographer, says the old units had “seen better days”, with recurring mechanical issues affecting both reliability and patient experience.

“We have replaced generators twice and they’re very noisy and vibrating, which is not ideal for the experience of patients while being screened,” she says. “It has become prohibitive and expensive to keep replacing everything on the unit.”

The new units use a hybrid generator and battery system, dramatically reducing noise and vibration during appointments.

Around 77,000 women, or those registered with a GP as female, in Somerset aged between 50 and 71 are eligible for routine breast screening, which is offered every three years. Those eligible are first invited between the ages of 50 and 53, with appointments continuing until your 71st birthday.

The mobile units play a key role in delivering that programme, rotating between communities across the county to ensure screening is accessible without long journeys to hospital, which is particularly important given Somerset’s rural geography and sometimes limited public transport networks.

Dr Zoe Goldthorpe, director of Somerset Breast Screening, adds: “Screening people in their locality aims to make breast screening more accessible to those who are eligible, bringing it closer to home and having it performed at a time and place which minimises impact on busy lives.”

Hannah Fitch-Goodwin, our breast screening programme manager, says the service is focused on early detection and prevention, helping to identify potential issues before symptoms develop.

“The screening programme aims to detect early disease, which has better outcomes,” she says

“If a potential concern is identified, women are recalled to Musgrove to see specialist clinicians in the breast care unit and those subsequently found to have cancer treated at Yeovil or Taunton.”

The two mobile units operate across all of the east and west of Somerset (except Frome, which is covered by the Royal United Hospital Bath) over a three-year cycle, ensuring each community is visited regularly. The service also tracks people who move into the county to ensure they are not missed.

Hannah says: “For those people who either move into Somerset, or move locations in the county, they get flagged in the system so we can check where they are on the three year cycle, and can amend their records accordingly.”

The introduction of the new units also supports wider NHS ambitions to deliver more care in community settings.

Hannah adds: “We’ve been trying to align our work to the NHS 10 Year Plan, which is all about prevention and care closer to home.”

Women, or those registered with a GP as female, over the age of 71 can still access screening by self-referral, while eligible transgender and non-binary people are encouraged to speak to their GP about being included in the programme.

For more information on our breast screening service, you can visit the website page.