The impetus for the project was a major crisis
within the Breast Care Service. It was completely
unable to cope with demand. Referrals to the
Breast Clinic had seen year on year increases due
to increased breast awareness as a result of highprofile
media campaigns. The Government had
introduced stringent access targets with all urgent
suspected cancer referrals to be seen within two
weeks and all non-urgent referrals to be seen
within 13 weeks (Department of Health, 2000).
The NHS Cancer Plan had also committed to
extending the age of ladies invited for breast
screening from age 50–65 to age 50–70 which
was predicted to lead to an increased workload of
approximately 35%.