Rapid Diagnosis Breast Clinic

The Rapid Diagnosis Breast Clinic is held every Monday, Thursday afternoon/evening and Saturday daytime.

When you are worried about breast problems, whether they are found to benign or cancerous, you want fast access to expert advice. Here at Woodland, our dedicated multi disciplinary team of specialists is on standby in the Clinic to care for your specific needs.

Our Breast Care Nurse is able to offer information and ongoing support throughout the surgical treatment journey.

During your clinic visit, you will be seen by a consultant Breast Surgeon, who will examine you. If necessary a digital mammography and/or breast ultrasound will be carried out. Depending upon findings from the consultation and the diagnostic results, further tests such as a needle biopsy may be conducted.  

In most cases the result of the mammogram and/or ultrasound will be available to the consultant on the day.

Should a biopsy be required, results from these tests are not available for 3-4 days. A follow up appointment date, for you to return to receive these results will be given prior to leaving the clinic.

It is important to emphasise that more often than not the result will be normal and you will leave the clinic with complete peace of mind.

If however an abnormality is detected you will receive the immediate support of a Breast Care Sister and early access to treatment. Woodland Hospital has a static MRI scanner and a mobile CT scanner. All types of breast surgery is available including breast conserving surgery: either as a wide local excision (lumpectomy) or as a therapeutic mammoplasty (breast reduction style surgery to remove a lump); or mastectomy, with or without an immediate reconstruction and sentinel lymph node biopsy. You will have the opportunity to meet consultant reconstructive surgeons if required.

The clinic is available to anyone with breast symptoms. You should preferably contact your own GP to seek referral to the clinic prior to booking your appointment. For self pay patients it may be possible to arrange an appointment without a GP referral.

Appointments can be made by calling our Private Appointments team on 01536 414515 (choose option 1, followed by 1 or 2)

Well women who require a breast screening service should not book with the Rapid Breast Clinic. If you have NO breast problems/symptom and you are over 40 years old, you can book directly on: 01536 536815.

As a self-pay or insured patient you will gain a range of advantages  

• Appointments can be arranged very quickly, reducing the time you have to to wait for either a diagnosis or treatment
• Screenings and investigations (which may not be automatically available to you on the NHS) may be offered
• Treatment and investigations are scheduled at a time to suit you
• A wider range of diagnostic tests, treatments and drugs may be available to the oncologist and surgeon looking after you. This means they can treat you in the way they think would be best for your condition.
• If you stay overnight at Woodland Hospital as a private patient, you will have a single en-suite room and an la carte menu