Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

NHS Grampian halts breast screenings in Alford due to staffing issues

Mobile breast screening unit.
The North East Scotland Mobile Breast Screening Service will return to Alford on Thursday June 23.

Breast screening services in an Aberdeenshire village have been paused due to staff absences and vehicle breakdown.

The North East Scotland Mobile Breast Screening Service has been operating from within the car park at Alford Medical Practice, offering mammograms to women between the ages of 50 and 70-years-old.

However, NHS Grampian has confirmed today that the unit will temporarily leave the site on Friday for a period of 13 days.

Health bosses say splitting the programme into two blocks is due “previous staff absences and vehicle breakdown” which has knocked the schedule back.

The unit is due to be in Shetland shortly, and the timeslot cannot be rearranged.

An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: “We are sorry we cannot offer breast screening in Alford in one continuous block. Unfortunately previous staff absence and a vehicle breakdown have disrupted the screening schedule.

“In addition, the team are also committed to visiting Shetland to offer screening there and this cannot be rearranged. We would strongly encourage everyone invited to attend the breast screening mobile unit during its visits to Alford to attend.”

The unit is expected to return to the Gordon road car park from June 23 and will remain in place until all eligible ladies have been screened.

Women aged 50-70 years of age who are registered with a GP at the Alford Medical Practice and Strathdon Medical Centre will receive an invitation to attend a breast screening.

Sarah Philip, manager for the breast screening service, said: “The aim of the programme is to detect breast changes at an early stage when treatment has the best chance of being successful.

“We hope that women invited for the first time will take advantage of their invitation for mammography and for women who have been screened previously, it is important to attend to ensure that there have been no changes over the past three years.”

Conversation