Women with breast cancer are at risk of going undetected because of a shortage of specialist staff needed to carry out checks.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has been struggling to recruit the radiographers needed to analyse the results of mammograms.

This has led to some women having to wait longer for a routine three year screening.

Part of the delays were also caused by the transfer of the trust's screening service from the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton to the nearby Park Centre at the end of 2008.

The new unit had suffered problems as it settled in.

Brighton and Hove's director of public health Tom Scanlon told a health overview and scrutiny committee the percentage of women being offered screening had improved in the last year.

He said more than 70% of women in the age group were now getting the tests they needed.

However he warned the continuing shortage of workers and plans to extend the national screening programme to women aged between 47 and 73 would increase the pressure on the unit.

He said: “One of our main concerns is the number of women who are waiting longer for screening than they should.

“There is the risk they might develop cancer in that period.

“We checked the results for 900 women last year who had faced delays and luckily they were all clear.

“However it is still an area of concern.”

Hospital chief executive Duncan Selbie said: “Our breast screening service is consistently rated in the top 10% and has one of the best cancer detection rates in England, and we will never compromise on this.

“We have been very open about the fact that our screening programme is behind as a consequence of moving into new, state-of-the-art premises in November 2008, and the national shortage of mammographers and radiologists.

“We have been advertising continuously and working exceptionally hard to catch up the backlog.”