Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) is pleased to be receiving a part of the Government’s £10m funding to provide new breast imaging facilities.
WWL will look to use this funding to create more breast imaging capacity which will provide an improved service for women in the local community. It is hoped that through increasing breast imaging capacity, WWL will be able to screen more women every three years and, in turn, speed up any potential cancer diagnosis which will improve outcomes for patients.
Richard Mundon, WWL’s Director of Strategy and Planning spoke on how the investment will transform WWL’s breast imaging services saying: “We are extremely pleased that WWL will receive funding to create more breast imaging capacity for our local community. This will help us provide greater access to breast imaging services for women across the Wigan borough.
“We will be able to screen more women and diagnose more breast cancers early meaning any potential treatment will be less intense and the chance of making a full recovery is much higher. We look forward to implementing these new services and continuing to provide a first-class service for our local community.”
The new equipment will be located at Leigh Infirmary within the new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) which will be opened later this year.
Sheena Hilton, Superintendent Radiographer at WWL also spoke on what this will mean for women in the Wigan Borough commenting: “As part of the funding we have been allocated a mammography machine which will be located within the CDC at Leigh Infirmary.
“As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, the equipment will allow the service to provide more equitable access to breast imaging for women in the Wigan Borough and the surrounding areas and will increase breast imaging capacity at WWL.”
Steve Russell, NHS National Director for Screening and Vaccinations commented on what this funding will provide for patients saying: “Screening is vital in detecting breast cancer early and getting better outcomes for patients, and this further investment is great news for improving access to breast screening services for women across England.
“This funding will help increase screening rates amongst women from communities and regions where uptake is lowest by improving facilities in both fixed and mobile locations, making it easier for more women to get checked, and we encourage anyone invited for a screening to take up their appointment without delay and help us catch cancers earlier when they are easier to treat.”