THE number of women in East Lancashire who can access life-saving breast cancer scans has increased thanks to a multi-million pound investment programme.

A rolling programme of breast screening for women between 65 and 70 has now been introduced for the whole area, thanks to more money for extra staff, allowing scanners to be used more often.

Previously the service by the East Lancashire Breast Screening Unit, the only proven method available to detect breast cancer at an early stage, was only offered to women between the ages of 50 and 65.

The extended cancer service is part of a £5million investment programme by Cumbria and Lancashire's Strategic Health Authority in new scanners and other technical equipment over the past three years.

John Dell, acting chief executive of Blackburn, Ribble Valley and Hyndburn NHS Trust, said: "I am delighted that funding for additional cancer equipment has benefited the people of East Lancashire, in particular the rolling programme of breast screening for women of between 65 and 70 years of age which has been introduced.

"Three-yearly mammographic screening is the only proven method available to detect breast cancer at an early stage and recent studies have shown a reduction in death from breast cancer afforded by screening."

Investment in the area has also included a new £500,000 replacement Computer Tomography (CT) scanner for Burnley NHS Trust.

The new equipment enables Burnley General Hospital to cut waiting lists by providing 1,000 more investigations per year than before.

It will allow a wider range of examinations to be carried out, higher quality, faster images, and more precise identification of malignant tumours. Results will be given much more quickly to the team responsible for the patient's care, with faster discussion about treatment options, and investigations will be more comfortable investigations too.

A spokesman for Burnley NHS Trust said: "We were delighted with the half million pound investment into diagnostic services here at Burnley.

"The replacement CT scanner is a faster, much more modern piece of equipment and, as a result, it enables us to provide approximately 1,000 more investigations per year than we could do previously."

Burnley is also to receive a £1million magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.

Patients from across East Lancashire have been using Blackburn's MRI scanner since 1998, when it was bought and installed at Blackburn Royal Infirmary after the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's £1million appeal.