Early detection of breast cancer has been given a boost in Oxfordshire with the arrival of new digital scanners.

The county has become the first in the south central NHS region to use only digital scanners for mammograms.

The four new scanners cost £270,000 and have been part paid for by a £96,000 fundraising campaign.

It also means the county will have a second mobile scanner as part of a drive to scan the over-50s every three years.

Churchill Hospital radiologist Dr Jane Baldwin said: “These new machines are a fantastic improvement for patients and will make coming to have a mammogram quicker.

“The digital system means results are clearer to interpret so women are less likely to be called back for repeat tests and we can identify possible cancers sooner.”

Dr Baldwin, the breast imaging clinical lead for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said previous scanners used film which took up to two days to process.

Now images can be viewed instantly on a computer screen.

The trust hopes to raise a further £4,000 from donations, which have also paid for the existing mobile scanner unit to be renovated.

The machines are part of the national NHS Breast Screening Programme, which sees woman aged 50 and over every three years.

This will fall to age 47 by 2016.

Last year, 28,000 county women were invited for a scan and 23,000 attended, of which 227 were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Dr Baldwin said: “The national breast cancer screening programme is important in helping find cancers early, and we encourage women to take part when invited.”

A review of the programme was announced last week over concerns it led to unnecessary treatment and psychological distress.

Dr Baldwin said: “I think it is a good idea that we continue to review all the national data and get the up-to-date picture.”

Nationally, the number of diagnoses has risen since screening was introduced in 1988, but deaths have fallen.

Breast cancer survivor Angela Oliver welcomed the news.

The 71-year-old, who underwent a double mastectomy last year, said: “It would be a big improvement.

“My husband took all the brunt of it, poor man.

“I was very positive from the beginning, and so the only advice I would give others is to be positive.”

The Witney resident urged women to take up the offer of a scan.

She said: “They should make sure.”

The trust said it is the first in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to only use digital breast scanners.

The scanners were used from last month.