My Breakthrough
Screening Saves Lives
Breakthrough’s Screening Saves Lives campaign has continued to be active since its joint launch by Breakthrough and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer at our annual joint reception in May 2006. The campaign has secured plenty of public and political support and has achieved some key milestones.
Breakthrough welcomes the Prime Minster’s commitment to an extension to both the upper and lower age range for breast screening.
Extending the age range to 47-73 will benefit thousands and help save lives, but there is still more work to do…
The Government sets a minimum standard for the uptake of breast screening appointments of 70%. In some parts of the country, however, we know that uptake can be as low as 54%.
Breakthrough is committed to working with MPs and primary care professionals to understand reasons for low uptake in their area and ways in which we can improve the situation.
Breakthrough is calling on the Government to ensure that that the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review adequately resources the NHS Breast Screening Programme in order for it to continue its life saving work in the face of this increase in demand on its services. This is particularly important as, even without an extension of the Programme, demand was set to rise since the number of women in England aged 50-70 is expected to increase by 20% between 2005 and 2025, with similar rises in this demographic throughout the UK.
We are also committed to working with the Department of Health, and local health decision makers on how the extension can be best implemented nationally, as quickly as possible.
If you would like more information on breast screening, or would like to find out how to get involved in our Screening Saves Lives campaign, please contact Rob Burley, Public Affairs & Campaigns Officer, on 020 7280 4271 or at robb@breakthrough.org.uk.
Find out more about joining CAN and attending our 2007 Westminster Fly-In
Breakthrough welcomes the Prime Minster’s commitment to an extension to both the upper and lower age range for breast screening.
Extending the age range to 47-73 will benefit thousands and help save lives, but there is still more work to do…
Take-up of appointments
At present, all women aged 50-70 should receive an invitation to a breast screening appointment every three years. Unfortunately not all women attend these appointments. This can be for a variety of reasons, including misconceptions about breast cancer and who is at risk from it, misconceptions about breast screening itself, inaccurate or outdated address details held by GPs and inconvenient times and locations of appointments.The Government sets a minimum standard for the uptake of breast screening appointments of 70%. In some parts of the country, however, we know that uptake can be as low as 54%.
Breakthrough is committed to working with MPs and primary care professionals to understand reasons for low uptake in their area and ways in which we can improve the situation.
Older women
Breakthrough welcomes the Prime Minster’s commitment at the Labour Party Conference to extend the upper age range of the NHS Breast Screening Programme to 73. However, until new systems are in place, Breakthrough wants to ensure that all women over 70 (and eventually over 73) are aware that they are entitled to arrange their own screening appointments through their GP and that they know the benefits of doing of so.Ensuring adequate resources
The Prime Minster’s commitment to extending the upper age range of the NHS Breast Screening Programme to 73 and the lower age range to 47 means an extra 200,000 women a year will be screened.Breakthrough is calling on the Government to ensure that that the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review adequately resources the NHS Breast Screening Programme in order for it to continue its life saving work in the face of this increase in demand on its services. This is particularly important as, even without an extension of the Programme, demand was set to rise since the number of women in England aged 50-70 is expected to increase by 20% between 2005 and 2025, with similar rises in this demographic throughout the UK.
We are also committed to working with the Department of Health, and local health decision makers on how the extension can be best implemented nationally, as quickly as possible.
If you would like more information on breast screening, or would like to find out how to get involved in our Screening Saves Lives campaign, please contact Rob Burley, Public Affairs & Campaigns Officer, on 020 7280 4271 or at robb@breakthrough.org.uk.
Get involved – join CAN!
Improving take-up of screening appointments and access for the over-70’s will be a focus at this year’s Westminster Fly-In, where delegates will be asked to contact their MP and work with the local media in raising awareness of breast screening.Find out more about joining CAN and attending our 2007 Westminster Fly-In
