Cancer screening sees improvement

Women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for mammograms

The latest Scottish Government figures show the country's breast screening programme is performing better than ever.

Cases of cancer detected through routine mammograms have increased by a quarter in the last five years.

The statistics also showed that there were 22,906 cases of serious sexually-transmitted infections in 2007 - up 110% on the 1996 figure of 10,919.

The diseases logged included syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and HIV.

More than 166,000 women were screened for breast cancer in the last recorded 12 months and 1,400 cases of cancer were detected.

Women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for a routine mammogram once every three years.

As we see an all-time high in the number of older women taking advantage of breast screening, we want to create the same levels of awareness in young people about STI testing, Shona Robison Public Health Minister

"But their success depends on people coming forward and taking up the invitation to be screened, so it's extremely encouraging to see three-year attendance figures are at an all-time high of 76.5%.

"However, these figures can go higher, but it is heartening to see women over 50 are taking care of their health."

She added that the rising rates of STIs were "disappointing".

Ms Robison urged younger Scots to take advantage of the testing and treatment available to protect their own sexual health.

The 2007 figures for STIs showed rising levels of syphilis, chlamydia, genital herpes, genital warts and HIV - although the rises are believed to be partly down to increased awareness and testing.

Free service

The figures also revealed four out of five new diagnoses of chlamydia in women last year were for females in the 15 to 24 age range, while 71% of cases in men involved 20 to 34-year-olds.

Ms Robison said: "Last month I announced a new chlamydia testing and treatment programme that will be available later this year free of charge in community pharmacies around Scotland.

"This will help make an important contribution to improving sexual health, but it's vital young people take advantage of these free local services.

"As we see an all-time high in the number of older women taking advantage of breast screening, we want to create the same levels of awareness in young people about STI testing, treatment and - perhaps most importantly - prevention."

Labour's Richard Simpson said he welcomed the greater willingness to attend specialist clinics for diagnosis and treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases.

Clinic workload

But he added: "The overall rise of 4% in STIs, especially chlamydia, is worrying."

Scottish Conservative health spokeswoman, Mary Scanlon, said the figures showed a "shocking and dramatic increase" in STIs since 1997.

The MSP added: "A disease such as syphilis, which was all but wiped out, is showing frightening signs of a comeback, whereas cases of chlamydia have simply sky-rocketed in the past decade."

Catherine Murphy from Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland said many clinics were struggling under the increased workload to detect sexually transmitted diseases.

But she said that initiatives including postal testing and better services in community settings like schools, leisure centres and youth groups had helped "take the pressure off clinics".

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