After meeting the charity Breast Cancer Now, Theresa Villiers has been pushing for action to increase the uptake of breast screening services in Barnet.
She highlighted this in Parliament in a question to Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, and she has also contacted the local NHS Integrated Care Board for North Central London (NCL ICB) which provides primary care in Barnet.
Commenting on the responses she has received, Theresa said “We need to persuade more women to take up the invitation to attend breast screening appointments. Early detection of cancer using screening can massively improve the chances of treating the disease successfully. Screening saves lives.”
“In my question in Parliament and in my discussions with Breast Cancer Now and the NHS ICB for North Central London, I emphasised the importance of communications targeted a women from minority ethnic groups as part of an overall strategy to tackle health inequalities.”
“I will always campaign for the best NHS services for all of my constituents. I welcome the work underway in north London to encourage more women to take part in mammogram screening.”
In response to Theresa’s question on the floor of the House of Commons on this issue, Secretary of State Atkins expressed her agreement on the need to tackle health inequalities, saying “…on ethnicity and inequalities, I have not only prioritised women’s health as Secretary of State, but announced £50 million of research into maternity disparities for women of colour, given the worrying statistics associated with that.”
The NHS NCL ICB have told Theresa that while the Covid outbreak had a significant impact on breast screening services, the past twelve months have seen a marked improvement in attendance levels.
As of August 2023 (the date of last official unpublished figures), uptake in Barnet was 61.6%. NCL Cancer Alliance, local councils, NCL ICB, and NHS England have been working together to improve attendance rates. This includes:
- Providing administrative resource to the breast screening services, to follow up women that did not attend their last screen and offer a new appointment.
- Supporting the breast screening service to routinely update GP practices on their patients that did not attend, so that they can also follow up and encourage attendance.
- Supporting the breast screening services to work more closely with GP practices and community learning disability teams, to identify women with a learning disability that have not been screened and put in reasonable adjustments to facilitate their attendance.
- Working with services to trial new interpreting processes at breast screening sites, to improve the experience of women that do not speak English as a first language.
- Working with a number of local community organisations, to provide them with communication materials and support to raise awareness of breast screening and encourage attendance amongst key populations that have low uptake rates.
- Supported NHS England to update resources for GP practices, that they can use to promote breast screening to their patients.
In addition, the Cancer Alliance, local authorities and NCL ICB will be working closely with NHS England’s London team, to develop and deliver a communications campaign this year that will focus on breast screening.
More information on the call from Breast Cancer Now for a national breast screening awareness campaign can be found here.
Digital imprint: Promoted by Theresa Villiers MP of 163 High Street, Barnet, EN5 5SU.
