‘Worrying’ decline as breast cancer screening rates hit 10-year low

THE proportion of women taking up breast cancer screening has sunk to its lowest for a decade, NHS figures show.

Experts warn the “extremely worrying” trend risks worsening until methods of encouraging people to take up the potentially life-saving tests improve.

Under the NHS Breast Screening Programme, women normally receive their first routine invitation for screening between the ages of 50 and 53, and are thereafter invited back every three years until their 71st birthday.

However, last year only 70.5 per cent of eligible women responded, meaning more than 750,000 went unchecked.

It fits a consistent downward trend since 2010-11, when 73.4 per cent took up screening, and is the lowest for more than 10 years. In two regions – the North West and London – uptake fell below the official “minimum” standard of 70 per cent, at 69.8 per cent and 63 per cent, respectively. The NHS national target for uptake is 80 per cent.

The data comes as the NHS faces mounting scrutiny over its performance on cancer prevention, with a national review under way after it emerged last year that a computer glitch caused more than 174,000 older women to miss out on an invitation.

The Government said 270 women may have lost their lives as a result, but it later revised down the number to “fewer than 75”.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at the charity Breast Cancer Now, said: “If this decline continues, next year could see screening in England fall below its minimum attendance target of 70 per cent for the first time, and we must act now at national and regional levels to reverse this trend. The NHS Breast Screening Programme remains critical to early diagnosis in this country, preventing 1,300 deaths from breast cancer each year – and we need to do everything we can to make the most of it, including by improving attendance.”

Among actions being considered to improve the uptake of cancer screening is a trial in three regions where mobile testing centres are being placed in supermarket car parks.

Last year, NHS data showed that cervical screening rates had dropped to a 21-year low, with 75.5 per cent of women in England taking up the test in the past five years, and just 71.4 per cent of young women, who should be seen every three years.