Three brand new - and 4G-enabled - trailers with state-of-the-art kit are helping thousands access breast screening check-ups from Berwick to the Tyne Valley thanks to an investment of almost a million pounds from Newcastle Hospitals Charity.
The breast cancer screening service for much of the North East is run from the RVI, with mobile trailers popping up around our region in places like supermarket car parks. Around 43,000 people come for screening a year.
Breast cancer screening was yet another NHS service to take a huge hit during the pandemic, and catching up with the backlogs has been a huge challenge. The new trailers will see fewer breakdowns and huge improvements in how environmentally friendly the service is.
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The 4G capability means scans can be sent directly back to the hospital without the need for couriers, the trailers will now see far less printing required, and hybrid power will drastically cut emissions. The new trailers also do not need to be plugged in at times, meaning they can be rolled out to more locations across the vast North East patch.
Joanne Levey helps lead the service, she said: "We can do between 40 and 50 appointments a day. An appointment can take just seven minutes - it's a well-oiled machine.
"The trailer uses much less fuel and is more environmentally friendly. We are now much more flexible, and we know we are not going to break down as often."
Jenni Scott and Angela Oxnard are part of the team who carry out - and then interpret the vital scans. They said the 4g would make a huge difference while Angela added: "We'll have extra space for the support and interview room which is also great. It'll mean we can give people privacy and it'll be great for patients."
The new trailers are the size of a large static caravan and feature a reception area, changing rooms and an interview room - along with the standard mammography equipment you might be used to.
Jenni added: "The national programme is for women between 50 and 70. You should be invited every three years - but we are still playing catch-up after Covid. The new trailers will help just by making things much faster."
Carol-Ellen Holmes, director of breast screening, added that due to only having a large and often remote patch and limited number of screening vehicles, "our throughput per site is huge". She said the service was one of the busiest in the country, adding: "We were having more breakdowns and failures and we definitely needed to do something about it.
"Through Public Health England we managed to get the equipment, but we really needed the trailers too. The old ones had become dated and we needed to improve that."
Jon Goodwin head of grand programmes at Newcastle Hospitals Charity added: "NHC is all about finding innovative ways to support our patients and staff - and helping them to tackle health inequalities.
"We are really aware that if you live in rural communities you might put off coming into Newcastle to get scanned - and we know how important easy access to these services is. We like to say our funding helps the hospital to go further - and with this grant that is literally the case.
The charity has paid £864,000 for three new mobile breast screening trailers built by Lynton Trailers. These replace old trailers which were "ageing and inefficient" and mean remote breast screening clinics can now take place in more locations throughout rural parts of the region.
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