Kemi Badenoch has said she would not want a male radiographer performing a mammogram to screen for breast cancer.
The Conservative leader said she would “definitely want a woman” to perform a breast screening exam – after experts said male health workers should be allowed to perform them to tackle workforce shortages.
Mammograms are the only health examination carried out solely by female staff.
The NHS’s breast screening programme invites women aged 50 to 71 for examinations which look for cancers too small to see or feel.
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Amid a “critical” staff shortage, the Society of Radiographers (SoR) said male health workers could excel in the field but are being denied the chance because of their gender.
Ms Badenoch, 45, told Times Radio: “I’ve had a mammogram, it is a very, very intrusive process.
“It involves the clinician holding both of your breasts for a long period of time, feeling them, manipulating them, putting them in the machine.
“I would not want a man doing that – (I) definitely would want a woman.”
She added: “I think the solution is to get more radiographers, not to ask women, yet again, to sacrifice their privacy and dignity to deal with a supply issue. I don’t think that’s right.”
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At the SoR annual conference, they will vote on whether they want to allow male mammographers, stating the skills needed “are not inherently gendered attributes, specific or biased to one gender”.
The motion adds men “might excel in this” and “offer a different perspective or approach to patient care”.
They also said transgender men should be included in the NHS breast screening programme.
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The SoR said the vacancy rate among screening mammographers is 17.5% and is nearly 20% among symptomatic mammographers, who assess women with lumps in their breasts or family history of breast cancer.
“Allowing men to work in mammography would help to reduce shortages – and therefore to reduce waiting lists,” said Charlotte Beardmore, executive director of professional policy at the SoR.
“That, in turn, would ensure that every patient is given the treatment they need, when they need it.”
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A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: “This government inherited a broken NHS where too many cancer patients are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment, including for breast cancer.
“Through our Plan for Change, we are driving down waiting times, getting patients seen and treated faster.
“We will also tackle workforce shortages head on, and ensure the NHS has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it.”
