NHS BREAST SCREENING PROGRAMME

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NHS BREAST SCREENING PROGRAMME

• 50 - 70 years

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Background information

• In 1985, the DoH commissioned Professor Sir
  Patrick Forrest to look at introducing breast
  cancer screening in the UK.
• Swedish Two Counties Trial
• In 1986 the Forrest Report recommended that
  breast screening be introduced in the UK.

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Facts .

• Last year, 13,809 women had breast cancer
  detected and treated more quickly thanks to the
  NHS Breast Screening Programme.
• 16,000 women per year die from breast cancer
• The Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer Screening
  now estimates that the programme is saving 1,400
  lives per year.

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What is breast screening?

• Method of detecting breast cancer at an early
  stage.
• Xray of each breast - mammogram
• Tiny dose of radiation.
• Ability to demonstrate small cancers
• Breast Screening can detect cancers at an early
  stage.

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Who and how?

• Women aged between 50 and 70 now routinely
  invited
• Invited once every three years
• Around one-and-a-half million women now screened
  in the UK each year.

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Who is not invited?

• Women under 50 as mammograms are not as effective
  in pre-menopausal women as the density of the
  breast tissue makes it more difficult to detect
  problems, and the incidence of breast cancer is
  lower.
• Women over 70 - this age group is encouraged to
  refer themselves for screening every 3 years.

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How is the programme organisedPart 1

• Around 80 breast screening units across the UK,
  each inviting a defined population of women (aged
  50-70) through their GP practices.
• Women are invited to a specialised screening
  unit, which can be hospital based, mobile or
  permanently based in another convenient location,
  eg. Shopping centre.
• Programme is nationally coordinated and has
  national standards which are monitored through a
  national quality assurance network.

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How it worksPart 2 The invitation

• Because the programme is a rolling one which
  invites women from GP practices in turn, not
  every woman will receive an invitation as soon as
  she is 50.
• However, every woman registered with a GP will
  receive her 1st invitation to attend for a
  mammogram at her local unit between her 50th and
  53rd birthdays.
• She will then be invited every 3 years until her
  70th birthday.
• The programmes call and recall system holds
  up-to-date lists of women compiled from GP
  records, and also records levels of attendance
  and non-attendance.

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How it works Part 3 The invitation ctd..

• Special appointments arranged for women with
  special needs, such as physical or learning
  disability.
• Appointments re-arranged to offer more convenient
  times or location.
• Invitation letters carefully worded and include a
  contact tel. No. for women who have questions.
• To help women make an informed choice about
  breast screening, all eligible women receive a
  leaflet, Breast Screening The Facts
  (available in 17 languages)

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The Screening Cycle
SO specify Batch/List
Feedback report To GP
PCTSS Select specified batch/list
Results to PCTSS
Specified batch/list sent electronically To SO
Batch/list Terminates
Screening Process - The Right Results
Appointments generated
Woman attends For screening
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Knowsley Practices - Percentage Uptake Rates
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Monitoring the Programme

• Round length monitoring 36 months
• Timescales eg
• screening to results
• Screening to assessment
• Data collection Audit
• KC62
• BASO
• Quality Assurance