Not enough is being done for breast cancer patients in Scotland, either in terms of access to technology or in the provision of support, according to the new head of a leading charity.

Audrey Birt, the director of Breakthrough Breast Cancer's new Scottish operation, whose appointment is announced today, said the focus of her work was to sharpen awareness of breast cancer and to improve care and treatment for women suffering from it.

The disease accounts for one in three of all female cancer patients, and one in nine of all women have it during their lives.

In an exclusive interview with The Times, Ms Birt said she approved of the Scottish government's Better Cancer Care strategy, announced last week, but saw areas where there was much more to be done, including screening for older women and digital mammograms. She wants to ensure that screening is the best available and that more women take it up. At present, she said, the numbers screened in areas of deprivation and from minority ethnic communities were lower than in wealthier areas.

Ms Birt said research by Breakthrough Breast Cancer showed that although most women knew to check for lumps, they had a poor knowledge of wider breast awareness. They needed, through efforts within primary health care, to be made aware of other changes in their breasts.

She wants GPs to encourage more women over 70 - who are not automatically recalled for screening - to attend regular breast checks. “Eighty to 90 per cent of older women don't go for screening,” she said. “The most worrying thing for me is that people tend to think that because they are no longer recalled, it's not important for them any more. While at 60 cervical cancer screening stops because the risk goes back to normal, with breast cancer the risk increases with age.”

Breakthrough Breast Cancer, one of the two largest breast cancer charities in the UK, opened a research unit at the Western General in Edinburgh, its first in Scotland, last year. With Ms Birt's appointment, it is now spending £5 million a year in Scotland.

Ms Birt, 52, who was formerly head of Diabetes UK Scotland, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 38 and had children at primary school. By coincidence, she had done her nursing thesis on breast awareness, and her specialist knowledge allowed her to pick up the first signs of her own illness. “Having had breast cancer myself, I'm particularly looking forward to helping to ensure that the concerns and needs of people affected by breast cancer are represented at a political level,” she said.

The use of digital mammograms is something the charity wants rolled out across Scotland. Not only are digital images more accurate than film, but they are more easily shared. “In Scotland, with so many rural areas, this would be beneficial,” Ms Birt said.

The other big strand to her work is to ensure that women do not feel abandoned at the end of their treatment and that the “soft skills” around cancer management are improved.

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