About breast screening

The NHS Breast Screening Programme began in 1988. It aims to invite all women aged 50 - 70 years for breast screening once every three years. Nationally the programme screens 2 million women each year and diagnoses about 16,500 breast cancers annually.

The aim of breast screening is to detect breast cancer at an earlier stage, often before the woman is aware of any problem. Early detection may mean simpler and more successful treatment. Scientific evidence shows that regular breast screening, between the ages of 50 - 70 years, reduces the death rate from breast cancer. Currently the NHS Breast Screening Programme saves an estimated 1400 lives each year in England. From June 2011, the age range of women invited was extended to include some 47 to 49 year old women and some 71 to 73 year old women, as part of the age extension pilot, recommended by the Cancer Reform Strategy (2007).

Breast screening for the North London region is managed from the Breast Screening unit at Edgware Community Hospital.

Currently we invite more than 196,000 women from the North London and West Hertfordshire area for breast screening. To enable women to be screened closer to home, breast screening is carried out at convenient sites across the region.

The NHS Breast Screening Programme is subject to monitoring by the Quality Assurance Reference Centre (QARC). It ensures rigorous quality assurance standards are maintained.