More than 18,000 Northamptonshire women missed vital breast cancer screenings in year before pandemic, figures reveal

Uptake was more than 70 percent, however as Breast Cancer Awareness month begins more needs to be done to stop thousands of women missing the appointment
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

More than 18,000 women missed potentially life-saving breast screening appointments in Northamptonshire in the year leading up to the coronavirus pandemic, figures show.

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins this October, experts are urging women across the UK to check for signs and symptoms of the disease and for those eligible to take up their invitations for routine screenings.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The NHS breast screening programme sees women aged between 50 and 71 invited every three years to undergo a mammogram (X ray) designed to detect cancers that are too small to see or feel.

Breast Cancer Awareness month is October.Breast Cancer Awareness month is October.
Breast Cancer Awareness month is October.

The latest available NHS Digital figures show that 78 percent of eligible women in Northamptonshire attended routine screenings between April 2019 and March 2020 – meaning roughly 18,913 were not up to date with their checks.

That proportion was in line with the year before.

It meant health services in the area achieved the national minimum target of 70 percent uptake but fell short of the 80 percent the NHS says all services should aim for.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of charity Breast Cancer Now, said a decline in screening uptake across the UK in recent years was already a "concern" prior to the pandemic, adding the charity estimates 1.2 million fewer women had a screening in 2020 due to coronavirus-related disruption.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She said: "We must do all we can to increase the number of women taking up their invitation to breast screening, including text reminders, more convenient appointments and improving awareness of the programme."

"While screening comes with some risks to be aware of, we encourage women to attend their appointments when invited, including during the pandemic."

Baroness Morgan joined the NHS and Public Health England in urging women to seek medical advice if they notice any abnormal changes in their breasts.

Professor Anne Mackie, director of screening at PHE, added: "Finding cancer early means that treatment is more likely to be successful.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“While screening is a personal choice, we are analysing the barriers that deter some groups of women."

Breast screening is estimated to save 1,300 lives across England each year, but just 69 percent of women offered a screening nationally in 2019-20 took up the offer, compared to 71 percent the year before.

Different figures show in the same year, roughly 9,500 women across England died from breast cancer and more than 17,700 women aged 45 or over had the cancer detected.

The most recent PHE figures at local authority level, which span a three-year period, show there were 232 breast cancer deaths in Northamptonshire women aged up to 75 between 2017 and 2019 – equating to 23 in every 100,000 women in the age group.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With locally targeted interventions and the implementation of the PHE Screening Inequalities Strategy, the Government is currently working to ensure screening uptake is equal across the country.

An NHS spokeswoman said the health service is open, adding it is "vital" that people attend their breast screening when invited.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesman said it was providing record investment in an effort to tackle backlogs influenced by the pandemic and provide an extra nine million checks, scans and operations.

He added: "Most cancer services are back to or above pre-pandemic levels and nearly half a million people were checked for cancer in June and July, some of the highest numbers ever."