Third of city women miss breast screen appointments

MORE than a third of Coventry and Warwickshire women invited for breast screenings are putting their lives at risk by missing the appointments.

The proportion is at its highest level in a decade.

Some 31.9 per cent of women aged 50 to 70 in Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull who were invited by the NHS to go to a breast cancer screening didn’t attend their appointment in 2016/17 - the highest figure in the last 10 years.

The area had a worse attendance rate than England as a whole - across the country 28.9 per cent of women in this age group didn’t take up their appointments last year.

Women are invited every three years to attend a NHS check to see whether they have the early stages of breast cancer usually starting between aged 50 and 53.

Across England - as in the Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull area - the proportion of women aged 50 to 70 taking up their invitations has slipped in recent years and stood at a 10-year low last year.

There was significant variation around the country in how many women turn up to their screenings, from almost 80 per cent in part of Nottingham to barely 60 per cent in west London.

In general older women in the 50 to 70 age group were more likely to attend their check-up than those aged closer to 50.

The screening programme found breast cancer in 18,402 women last year, or 8.4 women in every 1,000 who went for a check-up.

Some 41.5 per cent of these cancers were less than 15mm in diameter, usually too small to detect with an examination by hand.

The sooner breast cancer is found, the more likely it is to be treated successfully.

A 2012 independent review of the screening programme found that it saves about 1,300 lives per year.

The review also found that about 4,000 women per year were ‘overdiagnosed’ - meaning that cancer was discovered by screening but would not have caused the patient harm during their lifespan.

However doctors will usually treat all cancers because there is no way to tell in advance which cancer cases represent overdiagnosis and which ones pose a life-threatening danger.

Samia al Qadhi, Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Care, says: “In light of today’s troubling news that breast cancer survival in the UK is not keeping up with the rest of Europe, it’s worrying to see screening uptake in England at its lowest level in ten years.

“Our concern is women may not be empowered to get the support and information they need to make a decision that’s right for them.

“Mammograms remain the most effective tool at our disposal for detecting breast cancer at the earliest possible stage.

“However, it’s crucial to be aware of what’s normal for you and get anything unusual checked out – remember it’s not just a lump to look out for.”