Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to bring the performance of screening programmes in London in line with the rest of England and Wales.

The National Health Service in London continually strives to bring the best quality screening services to a large, diverse and mobile population. This is demonstrated in the NHS breast screening programme in London where in 2017/18, 272,506 women were screened.

While London has the lowest uptake and coverage in the country for breast cancer screening, the NHS is closing the gap. Over the past decade, the proportion of eligible women aged 53-70 screened for breast cancer within three years increased from 63.6% to 69.3% (minimum target 70%) in London; which is in contrast to the slight reduction in screening coverage in England (from 75.9% to 74.9%).

Across London, uptake (the proportion of invited women adequately screened for breast cancer within six months of invitation) has fluctuated but is 2.7% higher than it was a decade ago compared to a 2.7% decline across England.

The London NHS is implementing evidence-based interventions to improve uptake: appointment reminders sent by text/SMS; pre-invitation letters; second-timed appointments - when a woman does not attend her screening appointment, a second appointment scheduled at a specific date and time is sent.

In summer 2019, London will work with practices across London to introduce general practitioner (GP)-endorsed appointment text/SMS reminders, using mobile phone numbers recorded by GPs. In close partnership with the Healthy London Partnership, NHS England (London Region) has been working with several charities to improve participation in breast screening:

- Developed a Good Practice Guide for Cancer Screening in Primary Care (endorsed by PHE, Royal College of GPs);

- Cancer Research UK primary care facilitators support practices across London improve the early diagnosis of cancer including, increasing cancer screening uptake;

- Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust supports practices and women in London; and

- MacMillan lead Clinical Commissioning Group Cancer GPs provide leadership and support on cancer diagnosis and management in primary care. Community Links has worked in North Central London, supporting women to attend breast screening.