Breast Screening: Attended not screened
Guidance for specific scenarios where a woman may attend her screening appointment, but not have images taken.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
There are certain scenarios where a woman may attend her screening appointment, but not have any images taken:
- the woman reports that she had mammograms taken within the last 6 months
- the woman reports that she had mammograms taken, but can’t remember when and it may have been within the last 6 months
- the woman changes her mind and withdraws consent, either at reception or in the X-ray room
- the woman turns up late to her appointment and it is not possible to screen her
- clinical reasons prevent the mammogram from being taken
- where 2 assistant practitioners are working with remote radiographic supervision and are unable to take images such as where she has implanted medical devices or breast implants
- equipment failure
When a woman attends for breast screening, as well as identification checks (name, address, date of birth) the mammographer must ask a woman if she has had a mammogram since her last NHS breast screening programme mammogram or whether they have ever had a mammogram for first time attendees. Verbal confirmation is sufficient and does not require further checks. Any mammogram taken between screening appointments must be documented on the client form to include as much information as possible regarding:
- place image taken
- date taken
- symptomatic, private or other screening service
- outcome of mammogram
This information will be entered onto NBSS by the breast screening administration team as an other imaging (OTH IMG) record. Image readers will then see on the client record that other images have been taken should they want to request and review previous images when reporting current screening images. Further guidance on adding an other imaging can be found on www.nbss.nhs.uk.