Glasgow's health board has the lowest uptake for breast cancer screening in Scotland, according to official figures.
Statistics released yesterday show NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) failed to meet the national target of 70 per cent for breast cancer screening between April 2012 and March 2015.
Only 67.7 per cent of eligible women were screened by NHSGGC, while NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Lothian also fell below the national standard with 69.4 and 69.8 per cent of women being screened respectively.
All other health boards met the target for the same period, with NHS Orkney obtaining the highest level of screening at 84.4 per cent.
Of the mainland health boards, NHS Grampian had the highest uptake level at 80.1 per cent.
Across Scotland the overall uptake rate has fallen by around 0.4 per cent, to 72.5 per cent.
Director of Breast Cancer Now's Scotland branch, Mary Allison, has called for action to ensure the Glasgow screening rates improve.
She said:It’s clear that more needs to be done to make sure that Glasgow detects breast cancer early.
"Breast screening saves lives.
"It can help detect breast cancer at its earliest stages, which increases chances of survival.
"Breast screening uptake in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board has been the lowest in Scotland over a number of years.
"This could be for a number of reasons, but it could be linked to levels of deprivation in the city and surrounding areas. Scotland-wide statistics show that in 2011-12 uptake rates in the most deprived areas of Scotland was 61.4% compared to 80.4% in more affluent areas.
"People in more deprived areas are less likely to attend screening.
"If we are to stop deaths from breast cancer by 2050 we need to address this inequality.
"We welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to addressing health inequalities in screening through the Cancer Strategy and we’re ready to work with them to address these issues.”
"We also understand that getting an invitation to breast screening can raise a number of questions for women."
An NHSGGC spokeswoman said the health board is encouraging all women who are sent an invitation for screening to attend, and added: "We recognised that there has been a decrease in the number of women attending breast screening appointments.
"Breast screening is a very important tool in the fight to cut death rates from cancer and a number of steps have been taken to make screening as easy as possible, including sending mobile screening units from the West of Scotland Breast Screening Service into those areas where uptake is at its lowest.
"Communities which have a relatively low uptake of breast screening are also targeted by specialist workers to try to raise awareness when screening units are in the area and encourage women to consider the risks and benefits of breast screening."
All women between the ages of 50 and 70 have been eligible for screening every three years since 2003, with women over the age of 70 eligible for screening on request.
Between April 2014 and March 2015, breast cancer screening detected 1362 cases in Scotland with around 660 of these cancers smaller than 15mm, and unlikely to be detected by a physical exam.
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