Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHH), in partnership with St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation trust (STHK), currently provides Breast Screening Services (Mammography), Breast Assessment and Symptomatic Breast Services for Warrington, Halton, St Helens and Knowsley.
Between 28 May and 8 July 2021 WHH are undertaking a public consultation on proposals to reconfigure these services.
The proposals, to co-locate Assessment and Rapid-access Outpatient Symptomatic Breast Clinics at the Captain Sir Tom Moore Building at the Halton Hospital site, are designed to ensure patients receive the best specialist care in a more supportive environment.
The Screening Service manages and co-ordinates a three-year rolling programme of routine mammography across the region. Breast Screening is offered to all women aged 50 - 70 (up to their 71st birthday).
Following a mammogram, any patients requiring further investigation are requested to attend a Breast Assessment clinic to obtain a timely diagnosis of any abnormalities detected during screening. Breast Assessment Clinics run twice weekly at Kendrick Wing, Warrington Hospital and once per week at the Burney Breast Unit, St Helens Hospital to ensure results provided rapidly.
The Symptomatic services comprise outpatient rapid-access breast clinics and inpatient surgical services. These services are accessed via a direct referral, usually by a GP.
The proposals will see Breast Assessment and Symptomatic Assessment Services moved from Warrington hospital to the CSTM which will:
- Ensure patients receive the best specialist care in a more supportive environment
- Allow for more efficient use of equipment and scheduling
- Create a rapid service, which will lead to shorter waits for patients due to improved efficiency with the same level of staffing
- Futureproof the service structure against predicted higher future demand.
Our proposals will co-locate on the same site:
- Screening and Assessment Services
- Symptomatic Breast Surgery Service
- The CANtreat Chemotherapy service
- Macmillan Delamere Cancer Support and Information Centre.
This provides patients with the option of having all stages of assessment, advice and treatment on the same site.
The proposals will retain Breast Screening (Mammography) services in Warrington, either at the Kendrick Wing or Bath St Health and Wellbeing Centre, to enable all Warrington residents to continue to access screening in Warrington.
Breast Screening services will also continue unchanged at:
- Halton Hospital
- St Helens Hospital
- our Mobile Breast Screening Unit - all five current regular locations
The public consultation, taking place between 28 May and 8 July 2021, is inviting local people to give their views on the proposals. This follows an earlier engagement exercise which provided valuable insight into the proposals and demonstrated that the factors that were most important to people were waiting times to access a screening or assessment service, the outcome of any treatment and the expertise of the staff.
The full proposals together with a detailed explanation and answers to some Frequently Asked Questions are available in the document Consultation and FAQs - Reconfiguration of Breast Screening, Assessment and Symptomatic Breast Services. There is a questionnaire at the end of the document for people to complete and give their views.
Alternatively, an online questionnaire is available at https://
We will be hosting Microsoft Teams Virtual Engagement Sessions during the Consultation. Visit the Breast Service Reconfiguration web page for details.
Members of the public, stakeholders and services users will have the opportunity to see a presentation on our proposals and ask questions directly to the Project Team.
We will include links to these events on the Breast Service Reconfiguration web page shortly.
Our project team will also attend other existing forums to present details of these proposals on request.
Paper versions of the engagement document and materials in alternative languages and formats can also be made available.
Contact whh.communications@nhs.net or call 01925 664222.