Friday, March 23, 2007

Whose breasts are these anyway?

Well I thought they were mine, attached as they are to the front of me. We're an item, we have a history. We hang out together. I look round them to see my feet and these days I buy ever more substantial bits of silk and lace to counteract gravity's inevitable pull and tug. But hey, these pups are mine.

I want to keep it that way and thus do all the 'breast aware' things one's meant to do. But when I was invited the other day by 'Bron Browf Cymru' to be screened at their mobile screening unit (in the car park by Somerfield in Welshpool) - I did think 'Hang on - I've done all this fairly recently in Shropshire - in England.'
So I called the number on the 'invitation' and mentioned this to the surly dragon who'd got the job of snarling down the phone and put my case - I'm attached to an English medical practice, I've been screened within the last 2 years etc etc etc... But oh no, these breasts are now Welsh breasts - they are destined to be a Welsh statistic and a Welsh target met and they will be screened in the car park by Somerfields in Welshpool, in Wales. I meekly agree to keep what is no longer an invitation but an appointment. I suspect secretly that in the worst case scenario me and my 'pups' will receive treatment in England.

Does one authority not talk to another? Is this not unnecessary duplication - of time and resources ?

Please don't misunderstand me - we are so fortunate that this screening is available and 'free' (in as much as anything is 'free') and would urge everyone to undertake it. It's a lifesaver. And of course I will go but wonder if in twelve months time I'll will be 'invited' by my English doctors for what will then be their routine screening.

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