Promises to offer all victims of the NHS breast screening scandal a mammogram within six months are unrealistic – and could leave those with suspected cancer to “pay the price,” leading medics say.

More than 300,000 women in their 70s who were denied screening over the last decade have been promised the opportunity to have scans this year. It follows blunders in the national programme, which date from 2009 which meant many were not offered check-ups.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the Presidents of The Royal College of Radiologists, the Royal College of Radiographers and Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said there were too few staff to cope with the workload facing them.

And they said that even if existing staff worked evenings and weekends, there would be still be too few of them to uphold the commitment.