CANCER "tsar" Professor Mike Richards has rejected claims that North-East women are having their breasts removed unnecessarily because the NHS is overstretched.

Cancer expert Professor Karol Sikora, has said that a recent survey showed that women in the North-East and North-West are more than twice as likely as women in the South-East to have a mastectomy.

The professor, who headed the World Health Organisation cancer programme until two years ago, pointed to a discrepancy between the experiences of breast cancer patients in the South and the North.

A recent survey of breast cancer surgeons in the NHS showed that only 12 per cent of women in the South-East had mastectomies compared with up to 30 per cent in the North-East.

But Prof Richards, speaking during a two-day visit to the North-East to check progress on the national cancer plan, said: "There is no evidence that this is because of deficiencies in the radiotherapy service.

"It is a question of what patients have decided is right for them."

He was supported by experts in the region.

Dr Peter Dunlop, a cancer specialist at South Cleveland Hospital in Middlesbrough and chairman of the regional cancer modernisation group.

Dr Dunlop said that the higher proportion of women in the region who opted for mastectomy reflected cultural differences between North and South.

Breast surgeon Clive Griffith from the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle agreed.

"In every single case, the reasons for the mastectomy have been absolutely valid," said Mr Griffith.

"The vast majority of our patients who had mastectomies had them because of informed patient choice ... sometimes they say if I have a mastectomy then I don't have to have five months of radiotherapy."

But Mr Griffith said "major investment" was needed to improve staffing in the region's radiotherapy service.