Comments from a breast clinician

Full text

The concept of a breast clinician was first recognised during the Edinburgh and Guildford Pilot Programme. The Forrest Report on Breast Screening Services established the role to give assessment units the choice between a breast surgeon and a breast clinician for undertaking the clinical role in a breast assessment clinic. From this, some breast clinicians were also employed as film readers and trained in breast ultrasound. As the breast symptomatic service developed to keep up with the National Breast Screening service, the breast clinician developed a recognised role in breast diagnoses, providing both clinical and radiological input.

Over the past few years it has become difficult to summarise their duties, as each individual is employed to fulfil a local need. The aim of this presentation is to describe who presently undertakes the role of breast clinician, what is their background training, and the diversity of the different roles undertaken by breast clinicians. From this, it is important to look to the future in developing recognised training and career pathways. The concept of a multi-skilled individual providing inter-disciplinary crossover may be of benefit to other specialities.