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Breast screening: professional guidance

Standards and guidance for health professionals, managers and commissioners working in the NHS breast screening programme.

Published 1 June 2015
Last updated 22 October 2018 — see all updates

• From: Public Health England

Breast screening: commissioning and testing of x-ray systems is published by Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine

Consolidated programme standards

1. Breast screening: consolidated programme standards
   • 15 August 2017
   • Guidance

Programme guidelines

Programme standards and guidance for breast pathology can be found on the Royal College of Pathologists website

1. Breast screening: interim quality assurance guidelines for clinical nurse specialists
   • 1 December 2012
   • Guidance
2. Breast screening: quality assurance guidelines for surgeons
   • 1 March 2009
   • Guidance
3. Breast screening: clinical guidelines for screening assessment
   • 15 November 2016
   • Guidance
4. Breast screening: quality assurance standards in radiology
   • 1 March 2011
   • Guidance
5. Breast screening: quality assurance visits
   • 1 October 2000
   • Guidance
6. Breast screening: guidance for breast screening mammographers
   • 11 December 2017
   • Guidance
7. Breast screening: administrative and clerical quality assurance
   • 1 November 2000
   • Guidance
8. Breast screening: organising a programme
   • 1 December 2002
   • Guidance
9. Breast screening: interval cancers
   • 8 August 2017
   • Guidance
10. Breast screening: programme specific operating model
    • 9 August 2017
    • Guidance

Good practice in breast screening

1. Breast screening: arbitration guidance
   • 31 August 2016
   • Guidance
2. Breast screening: set and maintain round length
   • 9 October 2017
   • Guidance
3. Breast screening: copying letters about clients
   • 1 July 2005
   • Guidance
4. Breast screening: manage mammograms and records
   • 1 January 2001
   • Guidance
5. Breast screening: managing B5 core malignant biopsies
   • 1 November 2007
   • Guidance
6. Breast screening: repeat mammograms
   • 11 December 2017
   • Guidance
7. Breast screening: processing and issuing results
   • 1 May 2003
   • Guidance
8. Breast screening: screen detected ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)
   • 1 July 2008
   • Guidance
9. Breast screening: imaging women with breast implants
   • 12 April 2017
   • Guidance
10. Breast screening: interval cancers and duty of candour toolkit
    • 26 March 2018
    • Guidance
11. Breast screening: women wanting to attend service out of area
    • 19 December 2017
    • Guidance
12. Breast screening: how to record vacuum-assisted excisions
    • 4 October 2018
    • Guidance
13. Breast screening: ergonomics in screening mammography
    • 22 October 2018
    • Guidance

Screening higher risk women

1. Breast screening: higher risk women who are pregnant or lactating
   • 1 May 2012
   • Guidance
2. Breast screening: using MRI with higher risk women
   • 1 December 2012
   • Guidance
3. Breast screening: higher risk women surveillance protocols
   • 1 June 2013
   • Guidance
4. Breast screening: surveillance screening of higher risk women
   • 1 March 2013
   • Guidance
5. Breast screening: working party report on higher risk women
   • 1 February 2015
   • Research and analysis

Consenting and withdrawing from the programme

1. Cancer screening: informed consent
   • 13 October 2017
   • Guidance

Research and reviews

1. Breast screening: radiation risk with digital mammography
   • 23 October 2017
   • Research and analysis

Quality control and testing

1. Breast screening: routine quality control tests for FFDM
   • 1 October 2013
   • Guidance
2. Breast screening: routine quality control tests for breast tomosynthesis
   • 30 December 2015
   • Guidance
3. Breast screening: routine tomosynthesis quality control
   • 1 August 2014
   • Guidance
4. Breast screening: acquisition and testing of ultrasound scanners
   • 30 April 2011
   • Guidance
5. Breast screening: digital mammography testing and commissioning
   • 30 April 2009
   • Guidance
6. Breast screening: calculate image quality parameters
   • 1 April 2009
   • Guidance

General equipment guidance

1. Breast screening: guidance notes and protocol for equipment evaluation
   • 1 September 2014
   • Guidance
2. Breast screening: ionising radiation regulations (2000,2006)
   • 6 February 2018
   • Guidance

Screening equipment and medical physics services

1. Breast screening: electrical supply in mobile trailers
   • 1 July 2012
   • Guidance
2. Breast screening: mobile screening unit specification
   • 1 October 2009
   • Guidance
3. Breast screening: mammography unit ergonomic assessment
   • 1 October 2007
   • Guidance
4. Breast screening: quality assurance for medical physics services
   • 1 June 2005
   • Guidance
5. Breast screening: digital breast tomosynthesis
   • 1 September 2010
   • Guidance
6. Breast screening: tomosynthesis position statement
   • 10 May 2016
   • Correspondence

Equipment technical evaluations

1. Breast screening: Siemens Inspiration PRIME mammo
   • 29 March 2016
   • Guidance
2. Breast screening: Siemens Mammomat Inspiration DBT
   • 1 January 2015
   • Guidance
3. Breast screening: Hologic Selenia Dimensions DBT
   • 1 August 2014
   • Guidance
4. Breast screening: technical evaluation of Fujifilm Innovality
   • 24 February 2017
   • Guidance
5. Breast screening: technical evaluation of GE SenoClaire DBT system
   • 29 January 2016
   • Guidance
6. Breast screening: technical evaluation of Philips MicroDose SI Digital mammo
   • 1 February 2016
   • Guidance
7. Breast screening: Fujifilm AMULET Innovality DBT system
   • 7 March 2018
   • Guidance

Equipment practical evaluations

1. Breast screening: practical evaluation of GE SenoClaire DBT system
   • 29 January 2016
   • Guidance
2. Breast screening: Hologic Affirm DBT biopsy system
   • 30 December 2015
   • Research and analysis
3. Breast screening: Hologic Selenia Dimensions DBT system
   • 1 July 2014
   • Guidance
4. Breast screening: practical evaluation of Fujifilm Innovality
   • 24 February 2017
   • Guidance
5. Breast screening: practical evaluation of Philips MicroDose SI Digital mammo
   • 15 March 2016
   • Guidance

Published 1 June 2015
Last updated 22 October 2018 + show all updates

1. 22 October 2018 Addition of new ergonomics in mammography guidance to document collection.
2. 8 October 2018 Addition of Breast screening: how to record vacuum-assisted excisions to document collection
3. 7 March 2018 Added technical evaluation of the Fujifilm AMULET Innovality digital breast tomosynthesis system.
4. 20 December 2017 Added out-of-area guidance and duty of candour toolkit to collection.
5. 23 October 2017 Added 'Breast screening: radiation risk with digital mammography' to new 'research and reviews' group.
6. 9 August 2017 Added interval cancer guidance and programme specific operating model.
7. 12 April 2017 Added implants imaging guidance and consolidated standards.
8. 31 August 2016 Added arbitration guidance.
9. 29 March 2016 Technical evaluation of Siemans Inspiration PRIME mammography system added.
10. 29 January 2016 Added digital tomosynthesis system evaluation.
11. 30 December 2015 Added 2 new documents under equipment.
12. 5 October 2015 Added previously-published quality assurance documents to breast screening professional guidance.
13. 1 June 2015 First published.