{"id":141158,"date":"2025-05-29T10:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T10:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/141158\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T10:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T10:30:09","slug":"london-breast-screening-improves-yet-women-still-miss-checks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/141158\/","title":{"rendered":"London breast screening improves yet women still miss checks"},"content":{"rendered":"

London is still the lowest region in the country for uptake rates of breast screening despite a recent increase, according to NHS data<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The number of eligible women in London in the 53 to 71 age range screened in 2024 was 561,163 (62%), compared to 497,685 (56%) in 2023.<\/p>\n

The statistics, released on February 18, also reveal that London was the region with the lowest uptake rates in the country for 2023-24, compared to the West Midlands, the second-lowest at 69%.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The acceptable level of coverage for breast screening is 70% and above.<\/p>\n

However, Bexley, Bromley, Havering, Kingston Upon Thames and Sutton were the only areas which reached the level out of all 32 boroughs in London.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kensington and Chelsea stood out as having the lowest coverage in the whole of England at 46%.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

An NHS report<\/a> stated: \u201cLondon has the lowest cancer screening participation (uptake and coverage) rates in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Raising awareness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women registered with a GP will be automatically invited for their first NHS breast screening between the ages of 50 and 53, then every three years until their 71st birthday \u2013 women aged 71 and over can self-refer.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the NHS in London launched an awareness campaign<\/a> supported by charity Breast Cancer Now<\/a>, to encourage more women to attend breast screenings and to help detect cancers sooner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Nina Barough CBE was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, after discovering a lump while she was in the shower<\/a> and had to undergo a mastectomy, breast reconstruction, radiotherapy and Zoladex injections.<\/p>\n

In that same year, she founded the cancer charity Walk the Walk<\/a>, known for the iconic MoonWalk London. It is an annual event where thousands of people wear decorated bras or brightly coloured bra t-shirts and walk an overnight half or full marathon through London to raise money and awareness for vital cancer causes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Nina Barough originally delayed treatment for her breast cancer so she could take part in the London Marathon (Credit: Walk the Walk)<\/p>\n

Barough said: \u201cThey thought that I\u2019d had my tumor for about three years and it was quite aggressive<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back there were very minor symptoms which I didn\u2019t recognise at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the thing with breast cancer \u2013 it\u2019s not something that you are aware of and by the time you do become aware it\u2019s quite advanced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the screening programme is very successful and picking up more and more people earlier which is fantastic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it means is that we need to help that percentage of women who for whatever reason are not going and taking advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting screened after receiving an invitation <\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2023-2024, the number of women receiving an invitation and then getting screened was lower, at 1.75million compared to 1.93million in 2022-23.<\/p>\n

However, breast screening services were impacted by disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic between 2020-21 and 2022-23.<\/p>\n

But it does seem to be bouncing back as breast screening uptakes in first and all routine invitations for the whole of England was 70% for 2023-2024.<\/p>\n

NHS England refers<\/a> to uptake as the proportion of eligible women who have a technically adequate screen within six months of the date of the first offered appointment.<\/p>\n

In London, only the Outer North East reached 70%, while other areas fell below the acceptable coverage level.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In addition, figures<\/a> show more than four in ten women (46%) invited for their first screening are still not acting on their invitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Misinformation can put women off screening<\/strong><\/p>\n

Misconceptions are one of several factors which can influence women when they are deciding to get screened.<\/p>\n

Retired breast cancer surgeon Dr Liz O\u2019Riordan<\/a> stated some of the common misconceptions associated with screening are over-diagnosis and false positives and the harm they can cause, social media posts saying mammograms don\u2019t work and cause cancer, and articles in the media from doctors who believe that the screening program should be stopped.<\/p>\n

Dr O\u2019Riordan said: \u201cEvery woman needs to understand the real facts \u2013 how many harmed, how many helped, and how many lives saved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMost women will have normal mammograms.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t judge something you haven\u2019t had, it might not be as bad as you think.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Dr O\u2019Riordan explains what to expect at a breast screening<\/p>\n

Real experiences<\/strong><\/p>\n

London resident Sarupa Shah gets screened on an annual basis, due to previously being diagnosed with breast cancer during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cScreening is a necessity and it\u2019s great that we get it but it\u2019s such a cold experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rooms are always cold and I don\u2019t think they really think about the patient experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, I don\u2019t think people talk about the mammogram experience enough because it\u2019s horrific and it hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hampshire resident Angela Burke added inflexibility with appointment times is the reason why she doesn\u2019t get screened regularly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWhen I contacted the screening authority to try to rearrange an appointment made for me, I was made to feel as if I were being difficult and ungrateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I asked for an appointment during a school holiday, I was told this couldn\u2019t be guaranteed and I\u2019d have to keep calling back, as appointments could only be made for a few weeks ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cClasses cannot be left unattended and it\u2019s difficult to make phone calls during the working day to try to make an appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn numerous occasions when I attempted to call there was no answer. For these reasons I missed several invitations to attend screening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate that resources are scarce and there\u2019s pressure to ensure all screening appointments are filled but my feeling is that patients are seen as numbers to be processed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot all women, including myself, feel comfortable having screening in a mobile unit in a supermarket car park.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah echoed Burke\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIt felt a bit weird walking into a mobile unit in a car park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m all for trying to make it accessible, but I just find that whole experience a bit strange.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Example of a mobile breast screening unit in a car park<\/p>\n

Improving services<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of efforts to increase breast screening, the NHS is rolling out a new ping and book service.<\/p>\n

Through the NHS App, women will receive phone alerts to remind them they are due or overdue an appointment, with new functionality being developed to allow screening to be booked directly through the app.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Social Care is also looking into the use of AI in breast cancer detection.<\/p>\n

Across the UK, 700,000 women will take part in a trial<\/a> to see how the latest AI tools can be used to catch breast cancer cases earlier.<\/p>\n

At present, mammograms require two specialists, while the AI technology enables just one to complete the same process safely and efficiently.<\/p>\n

If successful, the trial could free up hundreds of radiologists and other specialists allowing more patients to be seen, tackle rising cancer rates, save more lives and reduce waiting lists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyone who has been affected by this report or requires more information can visit the breast screening page<\/a> on the Cancer Research UK website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Feature image source: National Cancer Institute<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London is still the lowest region in the country for uptake rates of breast screening despite a recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[1378,61152,48793,748,393,4884,257,12,211,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-141158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-breast-cancer","9":"tag-breast-cancer-awareness","10":"tag-breast-cancer-screening","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nhs","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114590661254620121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}