MORE than three quarters of women in the North East take up breast screening invitations, new figures have revealed.
Uptake of routine breast screening invitations in the region was 76.8% among women aged 50 to 70 in 2011-12, information from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has shown.
The North East Strategic Health Authority recorded the second highest number of women who were breast- screened, only being eclipsed by East Midlands at 77.1%.
Yinka Ebo, senior health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “Breast screening can help detect the early signs of breast cancers, when they are too small to see or feel. And when breast cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, treatment is more likely to be successful and more women survive.”
Every day, more than five women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the North East and each year around 2,000 women are given the heartbreaking news that they have the disease. The report shows that in the region, the cancer detection rate was highest in women aged 50 to 70.
In 2011-12 the rate of women of this age group detected was 8.0 per 1,000 women screened. Among all women aged 45 and over, the rate of women with cancer detected was also 8.0 per 1,000 women screened.
Grandmother-of-three Carol Cooke owes her life to a routine breast screening test at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. The 61-year-old mum, from Wallsend, was diagnosed with the illness in July 2005 – a condition she might not have known she had if it was not for her trip to the hospital.
Ms Cooke, a call centre worker, had a routine mammogram and then happily went home, but shortly afterwards, the hospital contacted her and asked her to return.
An ultrasound scan then revealed she had breast cancer, but a partial mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, meant doctors were able to tackle the illness successfully.
She said: “It is very important that women go for breast cancer screening when they are invited to do so. If I hadn’t then I may not be here today as my cancer might not have been picked up in time as I’d not noticed any lump.”
NHS Breast Screening Programme England 2011-12 includes data on those invited for breast screening, coverage, uptake of invitations, outcomes of screening and cancers detected.
HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Our report is important for informing policy and monitoring the quality and effectiveness of breast screening services. Future reports will be vital for monitoring if uptake levels change.”
