Audit of negative assessments in a breast-screening programme in women who later develop breast cancer-implications for survival.

The aim of this study was to examine observed short-term survival, to estimate future survival, and to assess the impact on survival of amending procedures to avoid false negatives in women recalled for further assessment due to a suspicious screening mammogram. From the start of screening in the seven centres in the East Anglian region, 1 April 1989 to 31 December 1999, 503493 women from a total population of 2.2 million were screened, 25346 were recalled for an assessment and 3689 were diagnosed with breast cancer.

An audit of assessment procedures in women who develop breast cancer after a negative result.

Objectives: A case audit was undertaken to determine the extent to which the early diagnosis of cancer could be improved by better adherence to screening guidelines, and to estimate the effect that this might have on breast cancer survival. Although affecting only a small proportion of the cancers of the screening programme, this exercise had an educational function for screening radiologists.

Setting: The East Anglian breast screening programme, a group of seven centres offering screening to a total population of 2.

Radiological peer review of interval cancers in the East Anglian breast screening programme: what are we missing? East Anglian Breast Screening Programme.

Objective: To determine whether association between classification of interval cancers (false negative, minimal sign, true interval, occult) and tumour characteristics can indicate areas for improvement in effectiveness of screening.

Setting: East Anglian regional Breast: Screening Programme.

Method: The consensus classification of interval cases, obtained through peer review, was compared with tumour characteristics: size; grade; and nodal status, and with radiological signs.

Interval cancer peer review in East Anglia: implications for monitoring doctors as well as the NHS breast screening programme.

Aim: To devise a method for reviewing interval cancers that will both educate radiologists and facilitate improvement of breast screening practice. To evaluate different methods for case classification to find one that best serves this purpose.

Method: The method of peer review and the means by which interval cancers are classified is described.

Radiology workload--a solution reviewed after 14 years' experience.

A method of controlling the radiological workload in a district general hospital, based on an estimation of the reasonable capacity of the department, was introduced in 1978. Measurement of the number of examinations performed compared with the estimated reasonable capacity shows that the method has been effective. An immediate 25% reduction in examinations was followed by a workload which varied between -4% and +16% of the capacity.