This week Greg Smith MP met with representatives from Breast Cancer Now in Parliament to back their #NoTimeToWaste campaign.
In the Buckingham constituency between April 2021 and March 2022 76.3% of women attended breast screening when invited. The good news is that this is the highest percentage in England, where the average is just 62%, but short of the charity's achievable target of 80%.
Over 3 million women are eligible for breast screening in England every year - and a third of all breast cancers in women are found through the national screening programme. Of the breast cancers that are diagnosed through screening, over 90% will be caught early (at stage 1 or 2), where the chances of survival are much higher. Which is why the breast screening programme in the UK is estimated to prevent around 1,300 deaths from breast cancer every year.
#notimetowaste is an important campaign and hopefully the statistics above show how vital screening is.
