Heartbeat: Breast screening team clear COVID backlog thanks to seven-day working

December 21, 2022

The City, Sandwell and Walsall Breast Screening Service have successfully cleared a backlog of thousands of patients which had risen due to the pandemic. At its height there were over 14,000 patients waiting to be screened after the service, run by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, was halted for three months in March 2020 due to COVID. 

To recover, the team put in place several factors including boosting it to a seven-day service. Up to 10 additional clinics were introduced over weekends, with mammographers volunteering to cover the shifts to support the service restoration. This was in comparison to the usual pattern of working which was a five-day week with occasional Saturdays to provide an accessible service to patients. 

Syeda Alam, Breast Screening Programme Manager and Clinical Superintendent Radiographer, explained: “The service had a 47 per cent mammographer vacancy factor however, the remaining team members inclusive of the clinicians and administration team absorbed the significant increase in workload through the week. The seven-day working week was paid for with additional funds secured specifically to support recovery. 

“Nationally breast screening services were required to change the method of invitation to open invitations to ensure all women who needed to be screened were invited whilst optimising service capacity.  During COVID, the service submitted a proposal for a hybrid version of open invitations due to concerns of the potential detrimental effects on service uptake; our concerns were surrounding the high BAME percentage and areas of high deprivation. 

“When compared against the national trend post-COVID the service maintained an average uptake of 59.2 per cent where nationally uptake was dropping as low as 25 per cent.” 

The impact of COVID on the service was immense even after screening started again. Syeda continued: “When screening restarted after the first three months of COVID, it was at a reduced pace with appointments scheduled at 20 minutes intervals due to PPE and additional cleaning requirements to maintain client and staff safety. This was in comparison to the six-minute appointments prior to the pandemic.  

“There was other work to do. The clinic workflow was re-evaluated to support social distancing in line with COVID guidance and a one-way system of working was introduced on both the mobile vans and static sites.  An additional patient safety leaflet and signage was produced to reassure clients of the additional safety measures that had been implemented and detailed how they could support this process.   

“However, we persevered and successfully cleared the backlog in October this year. This was thanks to every member of the team, who stepped up and went the extra mile.”