Daily Mail

‘Tell women by text to get cancer checks’

Report warns old NHS system means too few being tested

- By Victoria Allen

‘Crumbling infrastruc­ture’

WOMEN should get text message reminders and out- of- hours appointmen­ts for breast and cervical cancer screening, a major review concludes.

The damning report says falling numbers of women given life- saving checks for cancer ‘must be halted’ by making it easier for them to attend.

It condemns ‘serious delays’ in new tests for bowel and cervical cancer, while warning of the risk of ‘serious incident’ from 30-yearold IT systems which are no longer fit for purpose.

Sir Mike Richards, who was the first NHS cancer director, makes the criticisms in an interim report on breast, cervical and cancer screening in Britain.

It comes as cervical screening attendance is at its worst level for 21 years, with breast screening rates for women aged 50 to 70 at their lowest since records began in 2003.

The review was announced last year, following several high-profile errors in which it emerged thousands of women had not been sent invitation­s for breast or cervical screening.

It highlights that 8 per cent of women were forced to wait more than the target three years between breast cancer screening appointmen­ts in 2017-18, warning ‘some cancers may not be diagnosed and treated in time’.

Sir Mike also says ‘all possible steps’ must be taken to make screening more appealing and convenient, such as text message reminders sent out across the country, online booking and clinics close to where people work. He said: ‘Our screening programmes have led the world and save around 9,000 lives every year.

‘However, people live increasing­ly busy lives and we need to make having a screening appointmen­t as simple and convenient as booking a plane ticket online.

‘The technology exists in other walks of life and by adopting it across the NHS we can help identify more cancers early when they are easier to treat and save more lives.’

Outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May committed to diagnosing threequart­ers of all cancers in the earliest two stages by 2028.

But while all women aged 50 to 70 are offered breast screening in the UK, and those aged 25 to 64 are offered smear tests every three years, the proportion being checked is falling. Just 71.4 per cent of eligible women were screened adequately for cervical cancer as of March last year, while 700,000 eligible women are believed to have missed their last scheduled mammogram.

The report states: ‘Firstly, whilst the number of people being screened has increased over time as the population expands, the long-term decline in the proportion of eligible women taking up breast and cervical screening must be halted.’

The review singles out ‘serious and ongoing delays’ in screening, including a four-year delay in testing for the HPV virus, which can cause the abnormal cells that lead to cervical cancer. Recommende­d to go ahead in 2015, the tests are now expected to be available in December this year.

In 2011 the UK National Screening Committee recommende­d people aged 55 should have a one-off test using a camera to look inside the bowel. But by last September, fewer than half of eligible patients had been invited due to a staffing crisis.

Sir Mike said allowing people to do their own smear tests may help screening rates, and called for local campaigns to be looked at to see if they would work nationally.

These include the ‘No Fear’ scheme in Middlesbro­ugh and Newcastle, which allows women to request female doctors for smear tests or take along friends to make it less daunting.

Earlier this month MPs spoke out about the ‘hopeless’ IT system used for screening, with Sir Mike stating that systems used for breast and cervical checks are ‘little changed since 1988 and are no longer fit for purpose’. He said the ageing NHS workforce was under ‘considerab­le strain’, with artificial intelligen­ce being an option to relieve the burden by interpreti­ng scans.

Sara Hiom, of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘The hard work of skilled and committed staff is being undermined in part by the crumbling infrastruc­ture of the NHS, including inadequate IT systems.

‘ The Government must take urgent action to help the NHS remove barriers to screening.’

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