BREAST cancer screening services have detected 95 per cent of cases in North Yorkshire - making the York-based service one of the most effective in the country.

The unit, which has been based at York District Hospital since 1989, routinely screens women aged between 50 and 64 from across North Yorkshire, including Selby, Harrogate and Scarborough.

It has a diagnosis rate of 95 per cent - the highest in the North - which puts it above North Cumbria at 91 per cent and Leeds and Wakefield at 84 per cent.

The results were published today in the Dr Foster Breast Cancer Guide, which provides previously unavailable information about breast screening services and hospital treatment of breast cancer patients throughout the UK.

It includes details of the percentage of people with breast cancer who were diagnosed by their local breast screening unit.

The national minimum rate set by the NHS National Screening Office is 70 per cewnt, and the target is 90 per cent.

Currently, the service has yet to reach the target, with a national average rate of 87 per cent. However, 41 per cent of screening units have a rate of 90 per cent or above.

According to the guide some breast screening units are now detecting virtually all cancers in their region, and in some areas over 98% of people treated for breast cancer were diagnosed by the screening process.

Moyra Walker, spokeswoman for Cancer Concern York, welcomed the results.

She detected a lump in her breast in 1993 aged 50, so did not have initial routine testing, but she is now screened regularly.

She said: "Screening can often detect cancer before you can detect a lump yourself and then something can be done earlier.

"If it's left too long, then often it is too late."

In the UK, all women between 50 and 64 are screened regularly to try to detect breast cancer as early as possible. The figures given in the book for the pre-operative diagnosis rate are one of the key measures used to show how well a unit is performing.

Updated: 11:08 Friday, October 11, 2002