When people in the province of Alicante discover a bump or are frightened about having a breast tumour, they resort to private clinics for mammography. People between the ages of 45 and 70 don’t get the letter for breast cancer screening, or it takes a long time for the public health system to set up an appointment.
Amparo Bernet, president of the Association of Mastectomised Women (and those affected by breast cancer) of the Valencian Community (Ammcova), says that this is also happening in Alicante. She adds that the delays are common to all three provinces, though local groups say they are only happening in a few cases.
The price of this test can change. A regular bilateral mammography costs about €79, whereas a 3D mammogram with tomosynthesis costs about €90 in private healthcare. The cost will vary on the kind of exam, the centre, and whether you buy it through a management service.
Groups of patients indicate that there are delays in the screening program and in getting tested if they think they might have the disease.
Renewing equipment
The Economic and Social Committee’s (CES) annual report says that in 2024, there were about 12,000 fewer diagnostic tests done in the provinces of Alicante, Valencia, and Castellón. Participation dropped to 223,414 women, but Marciano Gómez’s department says the number was only 10,000 fewer and says that 232,520 tests were done.
According to the Economic and Social Committee’s report, just 65% of women in the Valencian Community who were old enough to get a mammogram last year really did. The Ministry of Health says the decline in renewing 11 machines and the drop in cancelled appointments are because of the COVID-19 epidemic, but Ammcova says there is another reason.
Cuttings
“Screening worked well at first, but they’ve been cutting costs, and there are a lot of mammograms waiting to be done.” A woman told me yesterday that they’ve sent her for next year after two years. That’s three years. If a patient has a modest tumour and two or three years go by, it has grown from one centimetre to three. So the surgery and therapies are significantly more aggressive.
“What’s going on now is called cuts.” The health care system is cutting back on professionals and resources, and the wait times are getting longer. — President of the Association of Mastectomized Women of the Valencian Community (Ammcova)
She also says that “90% of women are diagnosed with breast cancer by feeling a lump in their breast.” “That’s why screening is so important,” she says. “You can find the problem much earlier.”
The Ministry of Health is now committed to sending screening results within 30 days at the latest, and from 2026, they will also offer appointments or send results by SMS or email, in addition to the usual invitation letter. This is in response to the events in Andalusia, where more than 2,000 women had to wait up to two years to get suspicious mammogram results.
Talk about delays
The Association of Mastectomised Women tells women who may have to wait longer than usual to get an appointment for screening or a test from their doctor because they think they have had a mastectomy to write to the regional department and let them know so that they may take immediate action.
“Otherwise, the administration won’t know.” You need to write down that you’ve had to go to private care because you’re not getting care in the public sector because you’re not sure what’s going on. If you file a complaint, it doesn’t imply you’ll get inferior care. They take it seriously when there are a lot of complaints.”
Second time reading
The second reading of mammograms at the Botànic was another controversial issue. Carlos Mazón, who was then president of the PP and the Alicante Provincial Council and is now the leader of the Generalitat, said it was because there weren’t enough radiologists and promised to bring it back.
Not enough radiologists
She says that “they say there’s a lack of specialists, but that’s not true, and that’s where people’s lives are at stake.” We had a girl who wasn’t old enough to use the screening system and died. She went to the doctor and was told that she couldn’t have anything since she was too young. “It’s not given any importance, and little by little, public health care is getting worse.”
The Ministry of Health announced a plan to increase breast cancer screening. They have been working on this since the start of the term, and especially since the delay that was found almost two years ago. At that time, the regional minister accused the Botànic of “abandoning women” after finding a two-year delay in performing 150,000 mammograms.
In this situation, the replacement of over half of the 24 mammograms began when it was found that they were “no longer in working order.” The second element was the use of AI to read the tests. Ninety-three percent of the results match what the radiologist said, and over time, this will lead to a “progressive reduction of up to 40% in the care burden” in the Breast Cancer Prevention Units (UPCM).
Author: Derek Appleton
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