WOMEN aged 50 to 70 are being urged to take up potentially life-saving breast screening appointments.

In the year to March 2015, around 67 per cent of women in East Lancashire attended their mammogram and 78 per cent of existing patients returned for their scheduled three-year screening, according to figures from the trust which runs Blackburn and Burnley hospitals.

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The trust said it wanted to see a 100 per cent uptake and is using National Breast Cancer Awareness month, which starts today, to encourage more appointments.

Carol Wood, breast imaging and clinical services manager at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust: “ The screening appointment involves an X-ray of each breast, is performed by a female practitioner and the whole visit lasts only six minutes. We appreciate women may be nervous or anxious the first time.”

All women between the ages of 50 and 70 who are registered with a GP are eligible to attend for breast screening and will receive their first invitation automatically before their 53rd birthday.

Ruth Loft, group secretary of the Blackburn and East Lancs Breast Care Support Group, said they welcomed women on the first Tuesday of every month in the nurses’ dining room at Beardwood Hospital, Preston New Road, Blackburn, from 7pm until 9pm.

She said: “When someone is diagnosed with breast cancer in Blackburn, she will receive first-class treatment .”

If any woman eligible for screening has not received an invite in the past three years, they should email breastscreening.elht@nhs.net or call 01282 805301.