With concerns of unnecessary medical treatment for breast cancer on the rise, the NHS is considering radical changes to the national breast screening programme, as a result of which fewer women in Scotland may undergo routine checks for the disease.

According to Sunday reports, under plans which currently are being seen as part of a review of the breast cancer screening programme all across the UK, women in Scotland will be made aware of the fact that mammogram diagnosis underscores some potential risks.

It is believed that, as a result of the revised advice on breast cancer screening, the screening programme could well be abandoned by many of Scotland’s 170,000 women who go in for breast cancer checks every year.

The NHS is mulling the noteworthy changes in the national breast cancer screening programme – under which hundreds of lives are saves each year - largely due to growing concerns that regular screening may actually lead to some women undergoing cancer treatment, including invasive surgery, which may otherwise be medically unnecessary.

With women also being advised to assess their own breast cancer risk – on the basis of self-examination and family history – and then reach an informed decision on the need for having a mammogram, Moira Adams, director of the charity Challenge Breast Cancer Scotland, said: “There is a huge debate about the harms and benefits of screening and women need to be made aware of the facts to make up their own mind.”