Screening Services
Breast Cancer Screening
Breast cancer screening is a way of finding breast cancer at an early stage, when it may be too small to see or feel. If breast cancer is found earlier, treatment is usually easier or more likely to be successful. Breast cancer screening saves 1400 lives every year in England.
Who can have breast screening?
Women aged betwen 50 to 70 are invited every 3 years for breast screening. Women receive their first invitation after they turn 50 but before they are 54. This programme has recently been extended to screen some women age 47–50 and 70–73. Over the age of 73, women are not called automatically for screening, but if you would like to be screened, please contact the North London Breast Screening Service or phone 020 8951 4045 and you will receive an appointment.The screening is held in the Unit located at:
Furzefield Leisure Centre
Mutton Lane, Potters Bar
Herts, EN6 3BW
Eligible patients will be invited for screening when due. Please note the screening unit is only at the Potters Bar site every three years. At other times screening can take place at the static site:
North London Breast Screening Service
Deansbrook House
Edgware Community Hospital
Deansbrook Road
Edgware
Middlesex
HA8 9BA
Chlamydia Screening
Available to all 15-24 year olds registered at the surgery. Getting tested for Chlamydia is quick, simple and confidential. It's just a simple urine test and you’ll receive your result back within a fortnight. If the test shows you have Chlamydia, don’t worry, as it can be treated with one dose of antibiotics.
Contact the surgery for a kit or pick up a kit from one of the stations around the surgery.
NHS cancer screening programmes
Link: Cancer Research UK
Cervical Cancer Screening
Cervical cancer screening is a way of preventing cervical cancer and started in 1988. Since then, death rates for cervical cancer have reduced by around 7% per year.
Who can have cervical cancer screening (The ‘smear’ test)?
- Women age 25 to 49 are invited for screening every 3 years.
- Women age 50 to 64 are invited for screening every 5 years.
- Women aged over 65 are only screened if they have not had a smear test since the age of 50 or if they have had recent abnormal results.
You will receive an invitation for cervical screening when your next test is due.
Bowel Cancer Screening
This a new screening programme. It helps find bowel cancer and pre cancerous growths that could eventually turn into cancer if untreated. It is estimated that by 2025 2000 lives will be saved every year by bowel cancer screening.
The bowel cancer screening test is called the FOBT (faecal occult blood test). The FOBT looks for traces o f blood in your motions and can be done in the privacy of your own home. Samples are sent to a lab for testing.
In England, men and women are invited for screening every 2 years.
If you are over 70, you can still take part in the screening programme but you will have to call to request a test kit.
The number to call is 0800 707 60 60.