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Breast Screening Programme, England - 2014-15
National statistics, Official statistics- Publication Date:
- 24 Feb 2016
- Geographic Coverage:
- England
- Geographical Granularity:
- Country, Government Office Regions, Regions, Local Authorities
- Date Range:
- 01 Apr 2014 to 31 Mar 2015
Summary
Women between the ages of 50 and 70 are invited for regular breast screening (every three years) under a national programme. Screening is intended to reduce mortality by detecting breast cancer at an early stage when there is a better chance of successful treatment. This report presents information about the NHS Breast Screening Programme in England in 2014-15 and includes data on women invited for breast screening, coverage, uptake of invitations, outcomes of screening and cancers detected.
Highlights
Coverage
Coverage is defined as the percentage of women in the population who are eligible for screening at a particular point in time, who have had a test with a recorded result within the last three years.
Coverage of women aged 53-70 was 75.4 per cent at 31 March 2015, compared with 75.9 per cent at the same point in 2014, and a peak of 77.2 per cent in 2011. Although coverage has fallen for the fourth year running, it remains above the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes' minimum standard of 70 per cent.
Coverage for women aged 53-70 was 70 per cent or above (the national minimum standard) in all but one region; London reported coverage of 68.3 per cent. East Midlands reported the highest coverage at 79.6 per cent
Overall Screening Activity
In total, 2.11 million women aged 45 and over were screened within the programme in 2014-15. This compares with 2.08 million in 2013-14 which represents an increase of 1.3 per cent.
Invitations and Uptake
The number of women aged 45 and over invited for screening increased by 2.3 per cent to 2.80 million in 2014-15, from 2.74 million in 2013-14. There was a large increase in women aged 71-74 invited (13.3 per cent), which covers part of the age extension trial.
Uptake of routine invitations amongst women aged 50-70 has fallen for the fourth successive year. In 2014-15,71.3 per cent took up their invitation to be screened and were screened adequately within six months of invitation, this compares with 72.1 per cent in 2013-14. In 2014-15, 63.3 per cent of women receiving their first invitation were screened, which compares to 65.8 per cent in 2013-14 and 70.1 per cent in 2004-05.
Cancers Detected
The age profile of women with cancer detected by the screening programme shows the incidence of breast cancer increasing with age. Detection rates were lowest for women aged 50-54 and 55-59 (6.7 women with cancer detected per 1,000 women screened). The detection rate was highest amongst women over 70 years (14.8 women per 1,000 women screened)
The aim of breast screening is to reduce mortality by finding breast cancer at an early stage when any changes in the breast are often too small to feel. Of all women with cancers detected in 2014-15, 40.5 per cent (7,301 women) had invasive but small cancers which are less than 15mm in diameter and are usually too small to detect by hand. This compares with 39.9 per cent (7,175 women) in 2013-14.
Resources
Last edited: 15 September 2020 9:42 am