Experts have sought that male health workers should be given licences to conduct mammograms on patients in order to address the national staff shortage.
Although this move has already attracted political mixed reactions.
The Society of Radiographers (SoR) explained that a mammogram is a breast-screening examination reserved exclusively for female staff.
Mammograms are carried out on patients to identify tiny cancers which are not visible to the eyes or can’t be felt.
During the SoR annual delegates’ conference in London, suggestions were raised: “The role of a mammographer is to have technical expertise operating imaging equipment, proficiency in understanding anatomy, while maintaining patient comfort and analysing the images produced – skills learnt through education and experience.
“These are not inherently gendered attributes, specific or biased to one gender.”
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The National Health Service (NHS) shared that every three years, women aged 50 to 70 are invited to undergo breast screening (mammogram).
Due to its strict policy and shortage of staff among mammographers – radiographers who specialise in breast imaging – the SoR has now called for a change in policy.
The SoR officials urged that male workers should be given a chance, expressing belief that male health workers could excel in the field.
The motion raised added that men “might excel in this” and “offer a different perspective or approach to patient care”.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has voiced strong opposition to the idea of men performing mammograms, describing the procedure as “very intrusive” and insisting that it should be conducted by female clinicians.
Speaking to Times Radio, Badenoch said, “I’ve had a mammogram — it is a very, very intrusive process. It involves the clinician holding both of your breasts for a long period of time, feeling them, manipulating them, putting them in the machine.
“I would not want a man doing that — I definitely would want a woman,” she added.
According to the Society of Radiographers (SoR), vacancy rates among screening mammographers stand at 17.5 per cent, while those for symptomatic mammographers — who assess women presenting with lumps or a family history of breast cancer — are nearly 20 per cent.
Charlotte Beardmore, executive director of professional policy at the SoR, argued that allowing men to work in mammography could ease staffing pressures.
“This would help reduce shortages — and therefore reduce waiting lists,” she said. “That, in turn, would ensure that every patient is given the treatment they need when they need it.”
But Badenoch dismissed that approach, stating the solution is to get more radiographers, not to ask women, yet again, to sacrifice their privacy and dignity to deal with a supply issue.”
