More women in Bedford undergo breast cancer screening – as NHS England target met for first in 5 years

A breast cancer charity has welcomed the increasing breast screening uptake across England, but warned there remains "significant work to do to save more lives".

The rise follows NHS England’s first-ever breast screening awareness campaign to encourage more women to attend potentially life-saving mammographies in order to help detect cancers earlier.

NHS England figures show 13,999 women aged between 53 and 71 in Bedford underwent a breast screening in the three years to March – up from 12,401 in the three years to March 2023.

It means 67.4% of eligible women in the area were screened over the last three years – up from 61.2% between 2020-21 and 2022-23.

Women are eligible for screening if they are in the screening age range and have not had a bilateral mastectomy.

Across England, 70% of the 6.6 million eligible women were screened in the three years to March.

It was up from 66.4% between 2020-21 and 2022-23.

Any female aged between 50 and 71 and registered with a GP in England is offered an NHS breast screening every three years.

NHS England aims for seven in 10 women invited to undergo a screening.

In the year to March alone, 70% of the 2.5 million women invited underwent a screening. It was the first time the target has been met since 2018-19.

Claire Rowney, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said meeting the uptake target was "thanks to the tireless work of NHS breast screening staff".

But she warned there remains "significant work to do to save more lives from breast cancer through screening" and added "it’s vital we now build on this progress".

She said there are various reasons why women do not undergo breast screening, and hailed NHS England's new awareness campaign, which focuses on first time invitees and women living in low uptake areas.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: "The NHS breast screening programme has potentially saved thousands of lives, so it’s encouraging to see greater numbers of women are coming forward to be screened since 2021.

"However, it’s clear that more needs to be done to encourage uptake, so that more potential cancers can be caught and treated as early as possible."

She added "identifying and addressing" the reasons behind why people may not engage with screening will help achieve this, and encouraged women who may have doubts about mammographies to reach out to their GP.

The figures show 16,677 women aged 45 and over had cancers detected through screening in the year to March, which corresponds to 8.5 cases per 1,000 women screened.

It was down from 18,942 cancers detected and a rate of 8.7 per 1,000 women screened the year before.

Michelle Kane, director of screening at NHS England, said: "It’s really encouraging that more women took up their invitation to breast screening compared with last year, but there is still much more to do to reach more eligible women and encourage them to come forward."

Ms Kane said the NHS breast screening awareness campaign seeks to address the myths and concerns women may have around mammographies.

"If more women come forward, we can catch thousands of cancers earlier when they are more treatable and ultimately save lives," she added.