Women’s health is an area Healthwatch North Tyneside is focusing on this year. After hearing that the uptake of breast screening services available to people in North Tyneside were lower this year than expected, we wanted to better understand people’s experiences of North Tyneside breast screening programme to see if anything could be improved.
Healthwatch North Tyneside worked closely with the Public Health team at North Tyneside Council and service providers, supplying ongoing feedback of what people were telling us about their experiences. Potential improvements were highlighted – about the invitation system and concerns about parking, and some changes to the breast screening programme were implements during the time the survey was open.
This report provides a short summary of our findings and suggested actions. The actions are based on what we have heard from residents and people involved in delivering the services. It also includes details of residents’ responses to our survey. We recognise that some of these actions would take significant re-design of the screening programme at a much broader scale than North Tyneside. We have highlighted the actions we think are within the control of the local system.
The findings have been presented to North Tyneside’s Cancer Prevention Network who welcomed the report and are preparing a response which will highlight the work they have planned and are undertaking in response to the issues raised. Improvements to the programme continue to be made as it is still being rolled out across North Tyneside. Up to date information about the breast screening programme, including expected dates for invites, can be found here.
Alongside our work in North Tyneside, colleagues at Healthwatch Sunderland have been campaigning to improve accessible communications about breast screening services for people who have learning disabilities. You can find out more about this work here.
| Breast Screening Services in North Tyneside | Download File (pdf 397.70 KB) |
