Sarah, Duchess of York, has announced l that she has joined the Manchester-headquartered charity Prevent Breast Cancer as a patron
She has launched a public appeal to fundraise £600,000 for the construction of a new National Breast Imaging Academy, located at Wythenshawe Hospital.
This Academy will train 50 new breast imaging experts a year – who can go on to work all over the UK – helping to protect the future of the NHS breast screening service.
It will also provide up to 13,000 more breast screening appointments annually for women in the Greater Manchester region.
Commenting on her new patronage, Sarah, Duchess of York, said: “I know first-hand what it feels like to hear the words ‘breast cancer’ and learn that you are facing a life-changing diagnosis, course of treatment and recovery. It’s the news everyone dreads but I consider myself one of the lucky ones, because my cancer was caught early at a routine mammogram which meant that my prognosis was good.
“It’s thanks to my mammogram that I’m here today, so I can’t overstate how important it is that women go for their routine appointments whenever they are called up. It’s extremely worrying that a third of women are missing their screening at the moment. The fact is that the NHS screening programme is also under significant pressure from staffing shortfalls and the future of this programme could be at risk if we don’t act now to protect it. The National Breast Imaging Academy offers a solution: training new experts and increasing screening capacity to protect our national breast screening programme and save lives in the years ahead.”
