I work for the NHS National Breast Screening Programme and the team are concerned we are still screening amid the escalating Covid-19 infections. The close proximity we have to be in when performing mammograms goes against the advice of keeping your distance from each other; we are directly in the path of the women's breath.

We would recommend:

1. Making your employer aware of the staff concerns because they are responsible for the health and safety of their employees.
2. Performing a local risk assessment taking advice from your infection control team which may include removing vulnerable staff from the service, or preventing women from attending.
3. Reviewing the risk assessment daily taking account of latest government guidance, employer restrictions, and staff concerns.

NHS England and NHS Improvement say they are reviewing screening and will issue definitive guidance soon. Some trusts have taken a local decision to cease routine screening ahead of the guidance.

Please see here for the Northern Ireland response from Dr Sinéad McGuinness (Consultant in Public Health Medicine, QA Lead, Northern Ireland Breast Screening Programme)
 

Our anecdotal feedback shows some services have ceased routine screening and are redeploying staff to support acute services. This is a local level decision and may form part of business continuity or major incident plans.

Service managers are advised to discuss this with senior management teams and make decisions based on local service needs.

I've been asked by our departmental management for SoR guidance on emergency movement of HCPC registered staff to areas which they do not normally work, in anticipation of staff shortages relating to the Covid-19 epidemic.

The example I was asked to enquire about was that breast-screening mammographers could hypothetically be asked to move in the short term to general x-ray to assist there, with the breast-screening service being paused for asymptomatic patients.

They would not be asked to make diagnostic exposures, but would assist in patient care, manual handling, administrative elements and so on.

We would recommend:

• The director of AHPs and HR within the provider organisation should be made aware of the changes to working practises/roles and you are aware of any employer guidance on redeployment.
• You should be provided with adequate education and training to support working practices in the newly deployed area and this should be recorded.
• If you are to be an Operator under IR(ME)R 2017, or if there is any requirement for decision making relating to the exposure, that you are suitably trained and entitled under IR(ME)R.  It’s important to ensure that you receive adequate training relevant to the area of practice and that the training is recorded within your training record.
• Recent regulator guidance from the HCPC 

Our advice is to follow the regularly updated national/local authority guidance.

A routine screening appointment can be postponed until the situation is calmer. If a women presents as symptomatic, we would encourage they contact a GP in the normal way for guidance.