Delayed invitation

That depends on the region where you live. Nationally, the time between 2 invitations is now an average of 29 months. Due to regional and local differences, this may be shorter or longer for you.

The average 29 months as the time between two examinations applies to each age group. This way, the provision of the breast cancer screening program is uniformly accessible and equivalent throughout the Netherlands.

The adjustment took effect since the beginning of 2021.

A mammography, ultrasound or MRI can only take place in the hospital after a referral from the general practitioner based on complaints or changes in the breast(s) or referral from the health screening. These studies fall outside the scope of the health screening. If you have any complaints or changes in your breast, please contact your GP.

If you are concerned, it is best to contact your doctor. Your GP can discuss with you whether there is (a suspicion of) familial or hereditary breast cancer.

If you have any complaints, or see or feel any of the following changes, ask your doctor for advice. Your GP may refer you to the hospital for further examination. In case of complaints, do not wait for the invitation for the health screening and do not make an appointment at the sreening center.

• You feel a lump, swelling, or hardness in your breast
• You see or feel a lump on your chest
• You have dents or dimples in your chest
• The skin of your breast is pitted and looks like an orange peel
• A wound on your chest that is not healing well
• Redness, scaling, or retraction of a nipple
• Blood or green, brown, milky, or watery discharge from a nipple
• You feel swelling in your armpit
• Your chest is red and warm to the touch
• Your breast feels different than usual
• The shape or size of your breast changes

That depends on the region where you live.

Nationally, the time between 2 invitations is now an average of 29 months. Due to regional and local differences, this may be shorter or longer for you.

It is difficult to state whether generally a diagnosis would have been different with a earlier invitation. If you suspect that you have been adversely affected by a later invitation, please contact your region's screening organization. 

The aim of the health screening is to detect breast cancer early so that treatment has a greater chance of success or the treatment is less serious. For some women, later examinations can be beneficial if an abnormality is found that was not visible before. However, a longer period between examinations also means that in some cases breast cancer is detected later and that fewer deaths can be prevented.

For the health screening for breast cancer, it sometimes happens that women cannot go to the breast examination in their own place of residence. The reason for this is as follows.

The health screening must be the same for all women in the Netherlands. That is not the case at the moment. In one region, women have to wait (much) longer for a breast examination than in another region.

To reduce the regional differences, we have planned the deployment of the mobile research centers differently. As a result, your examination will take place at a different location.

The advantage of this is that you don't have to wait as long for the breast examination. However, it may mean that you have to travel further and longer to the screening center than you are used to.

Click here for the list of places where we invite clients to another location for the examination.

A longer period between two screenings ensures that less health gain is achieved by the health screening. In the coming years, until 2039, breast screening every 2 years would prevent approximately 1450 deaths annually. A 3-year period between studies would result in about 60 fewer preventable deaths per year over that period through 2039, calculations showed. 

Later, with new, more favorable predictions, this expectation was adjusted to approximately 30 fewer prevented deaths per year. In July 2023 it was announced that the aim of being able to invite every two years again for the next round at the beginning of 2024 would not be achieved. The expectation is that the number of fewer deaths prevented will be between 30 and 60 annually.

The screening organizations have been campaigning for a long time to retain sufficient screening lab technicians and to recruit and train new employees. This includes, for example, setting up extra training and job market campaigns to attract new employees. An extension of the interval is also necessary to make room for the training of new screening laboratory technicians.

A breast examination in the hospital is only possible after a referral from the general practitioner in the event of complaints or changes in the breast(s). If you have any complaints or changes in your breast, please contact your GP.

The referral is done by your GP. Together with your general practitioner, you decide which hospital you will go to.

We have been trying to find more employees for years, but as everywhere in healthcare, it is very difficult. There are also shortages of lab technicians in the radiology department in hospitals. Due to COVID-19, the screening was also halted for another 3 months, which meant that the backlog could no longer be made up.

Two in-service courses at different levels have now been started, but these are intensive courses for which it takes a long time before you have trained the large numbers of employees that are needed. For this reason, the screening period has now temporarily been extended to a maximum of three years. As soon as there is enough staff, we will go back to two years.

Health screening must be the same for all women in the Netherlands. That is not the case at the moment. In one region, women have to wait (much) longer for a breast examination than in another region.

To reduce the regional differences, we have planned the deployment of the mobile research centers differently. As a result, your examination will take place at a different location.

The advantage of this is that you don't have to wait as long for the breast examination. However, it may mean that you have to travel further and longer to the research center than you are used to.

Click here for the list of places where we invite offsite clients for the study.