The team at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust's breast unit is urging patients across Cambridgeshire to keep their screening appointments.

The Trust, which runs Hinchingbrooke and Peterborough City Hospitals, issued the timely reminder for women to attend their NHS screening invitations, marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

With figures showing that one in seven women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime – there is a renewed plea for women to attend their NHS screening invitation.

Cambs Times: The trust's breast care unit.The trust's breast care unit. (Image: North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust)

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, with the NHS offering free screening to women aged between 50-70 every three years.

Research shows that screening – used to find breast cancers at an early stage when they are too small to see or feel - saves, on average, one life from breast cancer for every 200 women screened.

That's around 1,300 lives saved from breast cancer annually in the UK. 

Cambs Times: Rachel Reed is one of the trust's radiographers who helps during the potentially lifesaving screenings.Rachel Reed is one of the trust's radiographers who helps during the potentially lifesaving screenings. (Image: North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust)

Amber Clarke is the Trust's Breast Screening Office Manager, based at Peterborough City Hospital, which issues around 20,000 screening invitation letters each year.

She said: "Raising awareness of breast cancer, in women and men, is important, particularly during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

"We would urge anyone who has been invited to attend breast screening to keep their appointment."

Trust statistics for 2021/2022:

  • Invited for screening: 20,114.

  • Attended for screening: 13,860.

  • Normal results (routine recall): 13,420.

  • Recalled for assessment (further investigation): 440.

  • Cancers diagnosed: 100.

How to find out more information

Around 55,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK; that's one every 10 minutes, and around 400 new cases of breast cancer in men are recorded each year.

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As well as on-site breast screening within a hospital setting, mobile screening vehicles also regularly visit Stamford and Rutland Hospital and many other venues within the local community.

To find out what you can expect at an appointment at the Trust, visit nwangliaft.nhs.uk.

For more information on Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to find out ways to get involved, visit Breast Cancer Awareness Month | Breast Cancer Now.