The NHS Breast Screening Programme report for 2018-19 has been published, showing an increase in uptake of invitations, screenings and cancers detected for women in England.
Screening figures show that there has been a 4.5% increase since 2017 (2.23 million women screened 2018-19) and a 26% increase in the last 10 years (1.77 million in 2008-09). More than 71% of women took up their invitation, a 0.6% increase on the previous year.
The report, created by National Statistics and NHS digital, also notes 8.8 cases of detected cancer per 1000 for the time period (19,558 individuals), the highest rate since 2008.
“The overarching aim of breast screening is to reduce mortality by finding breast cancer at an early stage when the changes in the breast are often too small to detect by hand,” the report says.
“In 2018-19, detection rates were highest for small invasive cancers (less than 15mm) at 3.5 per 1000 women, and lowest for non-invasive or micro-invasive cancers (no or slight invasion to tissues) at 1.8 per 1000 women.”