Breast Cancer Awareness Month – October 2022

Screening is for people without any symptoms of breast cancer. Anybody with symptoms should be referred on the appropriate pathway, such as 2 week wait (2ww) or breast pain pathway.

Eligibility: In England, breast screening is offered to individuals registered as female* between ages 50 and 71. The first invite is offered to women between ages 50 to 53, and they are then offered screening every 3 years until age 71. Females aged 71 or over can self-refer every 3 years. The breast screening test is a mammogram, which is done by a female mammographer at a clinic or mobile breast screening unit.

*Trans women, trans men and non-binary people registered as male are not routinely invited but can request breast screening. People can opt out https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opting-out-of-the-nhs-population-screening-programmes/opting-out-of-screening if they do not want to receive screening invitations.

Breast screening services usually send a GP pre-screening pack to practices 6 weeks before invitations are sent out to ensure invites go to all people eligible for screening. Services are keen to work with GP practices to encourage uptake for breast screening.

The charity Breast Cancer Now have some excellent free resources: a guide to breast awareness and screening, and a pocket guide in 11 languages.