Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of avoidable deaths from breast cancer and to improve survival rates for that disease.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Achieving earlier diagnosis of cancer is key to our ambition to save an additional 5,000 lives per year by 2014-2015 and improve cancer outcomes and survival, including for breast cancer. Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer, published in January 2011, set out the Government’s ambition to close the gap in survival outcomes by 2014-15 and the strategy is backed with more than £750 million over this spending review period (four years) including more than £450 million to achieve early diagnosis.
Specifically on breast cancer, following successful local and regional pilots, a national breast cancer campaign targeting women aged 70 years plus ran in England only from 3 February to 16 March 2014. The campaign included television, press, direct mail and out-of-home media advertising and the key message was: ‘1 in 3 women who get breast cancer are over 70, so don’t assume you’re past it.’ The campaign was targeted at women over 70 as breast cancer survival is lower in this group than in younger women. In addition, as part of a major trial, we are extending the breast screening programme to women aged 47-49 and 71-73.
The Be Clear on Cancer campaign on breast cancer in women over 70 has been successful in raising awareness of symptoms. Since this time last year, the number of patients seen by a specialist for investigation of unusual breast symptom has risen by almost 20%.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of avoidable deaths from breast cancer.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Cancer Outcomes Strategy set out our ambition to save an additional 5,000 lives per year by 2014-15 and is backed with more than £750 million, including more than £450 million to achieve early diagnosis by improving public awareness of the symptoms of cancer and improving access to key diagnostic tests.
Public Health England, working with the Department and NHS England, ran a national Be Clear on Cancer campaign on breast cancer in women over 70. The campaign aimed to improve awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer and urge people with relevant signs and symptoms to visit their general practitioner promptly.
Screening is an important way to detect cancer early and the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme (BSP) invites women aged 50 to 70 every three years. We want to expand the NHS BSP so that more women can make the important choice to take part, so the programme is currently being extended to women aged 47-49 and 71-73 as part of a major research trial. Results on the impact of the extension on breast cancer mortality will be known in the early 2020s.