Thousands more breast cancers could be detected earlier in England next year in a major new NHS drive to support more women to attend potentially life-saving breast screening.
The NHS in England has today launched its first-ever awareness campaign to highlight the benefits of screening and encourage more women to make the most of regular mammograms, as figures show more than four in ten (46.3%) invited for the first time don’t act on their invitation.
The campaign – supported by leading charity Breast Cancer Now – launches with a new advert across TV, radio and online to highlight that screening can detect any cancers as early as possible, while providing reassurance and relief to millions of women who get the all-clear.
New NHS estimates suggest that if screening attendance could be improved to 80% of those eligible next year (2025/26), nearly a million more women (around 925,000) could be screened, compared to 2022/23 – with over 7,500 additional breast cancers detected at an earlier stage, when they are more treatable.
The landmark NHS campaign sees celebrities including Newsnight anchor Victoria Derbyshire, broadcaster and presenter Julia Bradbury, and Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas write ‘unofficial’ invitation letters to women about their personal experiences of screening to reassure them and encourage them to attend. They are joined by cancer survivors, NHS staff and TV doctors in sharing letters in a number of moving films launched today.
In her open letter to women invited for screening, Victoria Derbyshire said: “I’ve had breast screening multiple times. For me it was painless and I was happy to be screened; my motivation was to make sure any irregularities were picked up – because the earlier breast cancer is detected, the greater the chance of survival. When I was diagnosed, I thought I wouldn’t get to see my two little boys grow up (then aged 8 and 11). I thought I wouldn’t get to grow old with my partner Mark. I’m still here thanks to the skill of the NHS – 2025 will be 10 years since I was diagnosed. Breast screening might just help save your life. Please go.”
The campaign comes as a new survey of 2,000 women for the NHS showed that almost 40% rarely or never talk about breast screening with their female friends and families, and almost a quarter (24%) of women said they wouldn’t attend if they didn’t already have symptoms like a lump.
More than a fifth (21%) also said that embarrassment at being topless in front of someone would prevent them from attending. Concerns about screening being painful (18.5%) also feature. However, 83.2% said they would attend breast screening if they were invited.
NHS national cancer director, Dame Cally Palmer, said: “Breast screening detects breast cancers earlier and saves lives – but we know for many women there can be lots of reasons why they might be reluctant to come forward, or why it’s not top of the priority list in their very busy lives. That’s why the NHS has today launched its first-ever campaign to support more women to make the most of breast screening and to address some of the misgivings and misconceptions they might have.
“We hope that by hearing other women’s stories, it will reassure them and remind them why screening is so important. Cancer survival is at an all-time high in England thanks to a real focus on early detection – and we want hundreds of thousands more women to access screening so that any breast cancers can be spotted as early as possible to help save more lives.”
