Junta announces 12-million-euro emergency plan to tackle breast cancer screening failures in Andalucía

Andalucía's regional government (the Junta) is working to resolve the breast cancer screening programme crisis as soon as possible. One of its current goals is to have carried out all the complementary tests for women whose first mammograms have given inconclusive results by 30 November. This was announced by the Junta's spokesperson Carolina España.

There are about 2,000 women, 90% of whom are patients of Hospital Virgen del Rocío in Seville, who were not informed that they had to undergo further testing. The Junta is investigating the reasons for this failure. The remaining 10% of the communication failures have occurred in Malaga and Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz).

The Junta does not have precise information on the number of patients whose health may have worsened as a result of this crisis. However, according to health statistics, around 1-2% of women with inconclusive diagnoses in the first mammograms may have developed tumour lesions.

While the Andalusian public health service (SAS) investigates the reasons for this communication failure and determines the specific number of women affected, the regional government has approved the implementation of a shock plan in which it will invest 12 million euros for all pending tests, both mammograms and ultrasounds.

To perform these tasks as a matter of urgency, 119 professionals will be hired in the breast hospital units: 65 radiodiagnostic doctors, 20 nurses, 18 specialist radiodiagnostic technicians and 16 auxiliary nursing care technicians. In addition, these teams will work under extraordinary circumstances, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

This plan will be implemented mainly in the Virgen del Rocío hospital, as this is the crisis epicentre.

According to España, most Andalusian hospitals did inform patients that they had to undergo new tests despite the fact that the protocol, in force since 2011, did not oblige them to do so.

The Junta has approved a modification of this protocol so that, from now on, patients whose mammograms have not yielded conclusive results and who must undergo new tests are notified. This means that even if two radiologists assess that a woman's mammogram probably shows benign findings, she will be informed that she has to receive further check-ups.

The Junta's spokesperson stated that all health centres affected by the crisis are already proactively informing patients, both in person and by telephone. "We are clearly explaining the results, what has happened and what the next steps are in each case," she said.

Carolina España has already assumed the role of communicating the plan and making sure that the measures are implemented, although former regional health minister Rocío Hernández took the first steps by going to Virgen del Rocío in Seville. España stated that this situation "should have never happened" and that the Junta is working to ensure that it does not repeat.

The spokesperson acknowledged that this crisis in the regional healthcare system concerns the Andalusian government a great deal. She stated that there will be consequences for those responsible for the breakdown, once its origin has been detected. Currently, the Junta's priority is to attend to the patients with inconclusive results.

The breast cancer screening programme in Andalucía has been in place since 1995. In recent years, the number of women undergoing screening has increased significantly: from 440,000 appointments in 2022 to 848,000 in the first nine months of 2025.