Breast Screening Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateBaroness Fookes
Main Page: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Fookes's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(2 years, 8 months ago)
Lords ChamberAs the noble Baroness will acknowledge, the MHRA and NICE are independent, but I can, of course, raise the issue with them.
My Lords, can my noble friend confirm that the incidence of breast cancer increases with age? If I am right in that, what plans do the Government have to help older women?
The statistics we have show that four out of five breast cancers tend to develop in women over 50. Therefore, screening is really for women between 50 and 71, which will catch most of them. The 2012 review of breast cancer screening, the Marmot review, estimated that inviting women between the ages of 50 and 70 reduces mortality in the population invited by 20%. It also found concerns about screening women outside those ages and overdiagnosis.