The quality of breast cancer checks in the Netherlands threatens to deteriorate because of the high pressure of work, health ministry inspectors warned on Tuesday.

While the system currently works well, the organisation – Bevolkingsonderzoek Nederland – has been given three months to come up with an improvement plan.
The agency sends out more than a million invitations for breast cancer screening a year.

The shortage of staff is leading to high absenteeism, less personalised attention and lower safety standards, the inspectors say. For example, technicians do not always place a lead screen between themselves and the patient before the mammography procedure.

Some 18,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the Netherlands every year and 3,000 women die from the disease. The screening identifies symptoms in some 7,000 women a year.