Farcical

Hi I had the very same letter, last week. Because I'm treated in Sheffield but I live in Derbyshire and the hospital here have sent out usual screening letter everyone gets . Mystery solved.

Xxx

Not quite. It's the wrong NHS trust for the hospital, and there is also the question of how come such a letter is being sent to someone in my situation. I am now wondering if some stage 4 ladies have been receiving these letter too. 

I was diagnosed in 2015 after my first routine screening.  I was called again for routine screening in 2018.  When I rang to explain I was still under annual checks they said they would cancel that appointment but keep me on the screening list and that they do this to ensure no one is removed, even temporarily, and not re-added.  It worked as Nov 2021 I was called for my first routine screening since 5 year sign off in 2020.

The screening service system is national, for me it's Breast Care Wales, you would be Breast Care England.  They work from GP practice list (which is why you may find friends of similar age called same time as you if in same GP practice).  It's literally just based on age, no additional medical information to ensure they capture every woman.  So it's quite normal to be called during treatment, just ring to cancel appointment but they will keep you on register.

Interestingly when I went to the screening centre for my first routine last November I mentioned I was concerned that I wouldn't be seen checked again for 3 years.  My screening centre is not based in hospital, but a clinic.  I was told while I could go private to a private hospital, there machines were not as good as screening centres (Doctor told me this ) plus if I had any concerns although I was outside 5 years I could just ring the BC clinic in the hospital I was treated at and I would be seen.  I did not need to go through GP for a new referral.  He told me this was across the Health board as they found it most efficient way to deal with ongoing issues.

Hi Greycats. I had exactly the same thing - I received a letter regarding screening with the letterhead from a different hospital than mine, which is in a different trust. I think that this is just how some geographical areas, which include hospitals from different Trusts, deal with routine breast screening under the NHS Breast Screening Programme. Perhaps the admin side has been centralised in one Trust?

The letter wasn't a fraud / phisihing scam. The appointment at my local hospital was genuine, and the website link within the letter was also genuine, and I used it to re-schedule my appointment (this was prior to my diagnosis). Because the names/details of those requiring routine screening will have been generated as part of the NHS Breast Screening Programme, and the invitation letters are computer generated too so are all generically worded, they will unfortunately have no idea of individual people's circumstances   Not sure how feasible it would be for a system to be put into place so that all those undergoing treatment for breast cancer could be excluded from the national screening programme whilst having treatment? I'm with Grogg, I'd rather stay on the screening list whilst I'm having my treatment rather than be taken off it and not get sent invitations when I go back to routine screening, although appreciate how some could find the letter inappropriate or insensitive. 

I had this a few months ago, whilst I was under going active treatment. I got quite upset and I emailed them to share my concern.  I was told that the screening letters come from a central database and they don’t have access to any current medical information (like being in the middle of treatment) so they cannot differentiate who to send or not to send to - see below.  I told them I felt this was pretty insensitive! 

Thanks to everyone who responded. 

I still don't understand why they are using in their letter head the name of one hospital, which also happens the one I am being treated at, with the name of an NHS trust that has nothing to do with that hospital and instructions of how to get to one of that other trust's clinics. It makes to me as much sense as getting a letter from Her Majesty, with the letterhead saying, "Queen Elizabeth II of Saudi Arabia, San Martin Palace, Buenos Aires." 

As for the national data base and all that, their attitude is lazy and uncaring. At the very least they could change the wording to take into account women who are actively dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis already and are undergoind treatment, and especially those amongst us whose cancer is incurable or terminal.

(By the way, no appointment was given; it is an invitation for me to make one.)

Thank Jen, I did exactly that not long after I saw this beauty yesterday. She got back to me this morning and she is just as frustrated as I am. 

She said that the breast screening service in my area was taken over by a different NHS trust, who seem to not have bothered to change the letterhead other than to show their own name. Fine piece of attentive, caring work there, or perhaps not. 

I find the whole thing annoying not only for the reasons I described above but also because sending these letters costs money, and someone has to fold them and shove them into the envelopes, as well as the cost of them being printed off. And then we hear of how much the NHS lacks funding. Sure, when they keep wasting it unnecessarily, and when people within the system cause additional waste of time and money due to their own negligence, then yeah.