Women urged to take up breast screening invitations

The Great Western Hospital Foundation Trust are reminding women of the importance of breast screening in the fight against breast cancer.

Women aged 50 to 70 across England are being urged to take up invitations to breast screening as the NHS redoubles its bid to reach millions of women not yet taking up the potentially life-saving offer.

Last year alone, NHS breast screening services detected cancers in 18,942 women across England, which otherwise may not have been diagnosed and treated until a later stage.

However, there were still 34% of women who did not take up the offer of screening following an invitation, with 2.18 million eligible women not having had a breast screen in the last three years.

A spokesperson said: “Here in Swindon, we want to encourage all people invited for a breast screen to take up the offer. To make this easier, we have screening facilities in west Swindon and at Great Western Hospital for appointments.”

Anyone registered with a GP as female will be invited for NHS breast screening every 3 years between the ages of 50 and 71. You'll get a letter in the post inviting you.

If you're a trans man, trans woman or are non-binary you may be invited automatically, or you may need to talk to your GP surgery or call the local breast screening service to ask for an appointment.

For more information on breast screening visit: @NHSBreastScreening