Hard-pressed NHS suspends screening programmes
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MAMMOGRAMS, smear tests and bowel screening have been suspended Scotland-wide as coronavirus loads pressure on the NHS.
The Scottish Government has taken the decision to temporarily pause screening programmes until further notice. These include mammograms, smear tests, the bowel screening home-test kits programme, abdominal aortic aneurysm screening – abdomen ultrasound, and diabetic retinopathy eye screening.
Healthcare staff will be redeployed to services dealing with the virus response.
Tests and scans offered during pregnancy and for newborns will continue "where practical", and in instances where people have been screened recently the results will be processed.
NHS Grampian said the decision was taken "due to the rapidly changing situation with coronavirus, its impact on clinical services and the requirement for social distancing".
It added: "We have now stopped inviting people for these screening tests and no more tests will be carried out until further notice."
Anyone who has a bowel screening test kit which hasn't been used yet is asked to keep it until the programme restarts. People waiting for a colonoscopy appointment will be contacted directly.
NHS Scotland reassured the public that screening programmes will be restarted as soon as possible and that invitations will be issued and appointments re-arranged at that point.
A spokesperson said: "We'll do everything we can to ensure screening invitations and appointments are prioritised appropriately."
