Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to encourage women to attend mammography screening.

Prevention is key in the fight against breast cancer and increasing the proportion of women that accept their invitation and attend their breast screening appointments saves lives. NHS England is continuing to invest in initiatives to help ensure equality of access to screening, including through locally targeted interventions to understand and address a range of issues.

In supporting NHS England, Public Health England (PHE) has undertaken a review of effective interventions to encourage uptake and included those in the Breast Screening Service Specifications. These specifications set out the service and quality indicators and expectations to ensure that a high standard of service is provided. Examples include ensuring breast screening services offer second timed appointments; and the importance of commissioners and providers working with local authority colleagues to understand local cultural/ethnic and travelling issues.

PHE has worked on the information provided to women when breast screening is offered. The new ‘Breast Screening: Easy Guide’, along with local initiatives such as text and general practitioner reminders, are some of the ways the programme is getting the information to women so they can decide whether screening is right for them.