A hospital which helped to pioneer breast screening more than 30 years ago has opened an ultra-modern screening and assessment unit.

Gateshead Health NHS Trust has chosen Breast Screening Awareness month to open a new £4 million Breast Screening and Assessment unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital .

The move is part of a nationwide expansion in routine screening for women between the ages of 65 and 70.

The new unit combines screening, assessment and symptomatic services - cases referred from their GP - under one roof, enabling resources, technology and the expertise of up to 45 staff to be pooled together.

All women will receive a two view mammogram of each breast at every screening; a technique research has shown can increase early detection rates by up to 43 per cent.

The centre includes the first prone biopsy treatment table of its kind in the region, which uses ultra sound and digital x-ray imaging and can help to reduce the need for surgery in the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Gateshead's breast unit currently deals with 5,000 GP referrals and 25,000 routine screens every year for women living in Gateshead, South Tyneside, Sunderland and County Durham. Under the guidelines to extend the service, it will see a 40 per cent increase over the next four years with the number of women in the programme rising from 80,000 to upwards of 120,000 by 2010.