A 73-year-old Scottish woman with a family history of breast cancer who has been unable to get a screening mammogram appointment discussed her predicament in a 28 October report in the Glasgow-based Gazette.
Geraldine McNealey was told she must wait for the exam due to a "pause on self-referrals" because of the COVID-19 pandemic. McNealey's mother, grandmother, aunt, and two cousins all developed breast cancer, and McNealey herself has had two close calls, according to the report. She has not been screened for three years, the Gazette said.
Women between 50 and 70 are invited to breast cancer screening every three years in the U.K., but women over the age of 70 must now contact their local screening facility to be seen, according to the report. McNealey has contacted the West of Scotland Breast Screening Centre twice and it has refused to schedule her.
