Over 2 million eligible women have not taken up the offer of breast screening over the past three years, according to NHS data.
Despite rising uptake overall last year with 2.18 million women aged 45 and over screened, the latest annual (2022/23) data shows that more than a third of women (35.4%) aged 50 to 70-years-old did not take up the offer of screening following an invitation.
As part of breast cancer awareness month, NHS England has urged women aged 50 to 70-years-old to take up these invitations to try and pick up cancer early.
Under the NHS breast screening programme, eligible women usually receive their first invitation for screening between the ages of 50 and 53 and will normally be invited every three years until their 71st birthday.
Last year, NHS breast screening services detected cancers in 18,942 women across England which otherwise may not have been diagnosed.
Dr Louise Wilkinson, NHS national speciality adviser for breast screening and consultant radiologist, said: ‘Breast screening saves lives by allowing cancers to be identified and treated earlier – in fact, discovering breast cancer at the earliest stage may give you a 98% chance of surviving for five years or more.
‘Screening can often pick up breast cancer before you can even see or feel any changes to your breasts yourself and your mammographer will do everything she can to make the experience as comfortable as possible for you, which is why I would urge anyone invited to take up the offer.’
It comes as women are to be directly referred to breast clinics via the NHS App under a new pilot scheme.
