WOMEN from Dumfries and Galloway’s most deprived areas are less likely to attend breast cancer screening appointments.
Figures released by Public Health Scotland this week show that between 2019-2022, 66.1 per cent of women from the most deprived areas in the NHS Dumfries and Galloway Health Board area attended screening appointments, compared to 84.7 per cent from the most affluent. This means that there is an average difference of 18.6 per cent between women in most and least deprived areas in the region, which is just under the Scotland’s national average during the same period at 18.8 per cent.
Commenting on these figures, South Scotland Labour MSP Carol Mochan said: “This stark inequality is simply unacceptable.
“For too long, women in Dumfries and Galloway’s most deprived areas have been let down by this Scottish Government and still we are seeing little in the way of progress. These differences re-emphasise the scale of health inequalities across the area.
“Our primary care and screening services must be community based, serving our most deprived communities first. I have asked the Minister for Women’s Health Jenni Minto to meet with me urgently to discuss ways of moving forward towards seriously reducing health inequalities in South Scotland and beyond.”
