82,000 Midlands women not up to date with life-saving breast cancer checks

NHS England data showed roughly 82,181 people in the Black Country and Staffordshire hadn't had their breast cancer screenings up to 2020-2021.

It has led to a warning that hundreds could die over the next decade due to the impact of pandemic on screenings, with the human cost being "stark".

Nationally, there was a 44 per cent fall in the number of women who were screened for the disease nationally in 2020-2021 according to official data.

Diane Wake, senior responsible officer for elective and diagnostics and cancer for the Black Country and West Birmingham, said: "Breast screening services across The Black Country and West Birmingham have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic when comparing the number eligible for screening to the number of women screened.

"We are pleased that the national breast screening programme is on track to recover its position across the Black Country by June 2022. In Dudley, we have recently established two new mobile units at Brierley Hill and Kingswinford with an extended service on Saturdays to give women more opportunities to attend breast screening. There is also a new unit at Morrisons at Pendeford in Wolverhampton.

"We continue to promote breast screening across the Black Country to encourage women between the ages of 50 and 70 to attend breast screening and targeting those who we know are less likely to attend.

"The City, Sandwell and Walsall Breast Screening Service regularly sends out communication with women who are due to attend a breast screening appointment and keep in contact with GPs about patient attendance to encourage uptake."

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of charity Breast Cancer Now, claimed screening update had hit its lowest point in history despite NHS staff working "tirelessly" in the "toughest of circumstances".

She added: "Breast screening is a vital tool for detecting breast cancer early, and the sooner it’s diagnosed the more likely treatment is to be successful."

Screenings were seriously impacted by pandemic-related disruption and were paused between March and June 2020 to protect patients and staff from Covid, before resuming that summer. Self-isolation and shielding is also believed to have had an impact on attendances throughout the pandemic.

The data shows just over half of eligible women in Wolverhampton were up to date with their screenings at the end of March last year, meaning roughly 13,144 were not.

In Walsall, the figure not up to date with screenings was 9,823. In Sandwell, it was 12,207. In Dudley, it was 14,707 and in Staffordshire the figure was around 32,300.

Dr Matthew Lewis, medical director at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust which runs Stafford County Hospital and Royal Stoke University Hospital, said screening was "vital".

Dr Lewis, whose organisation comes under the Staffordshire-wide figures but is only responsible for the 'North Midlands' area not county-wide, said: "Breast Screening at University Hospitals of North Midlands is one of the best performing screening services within the West Midlands area and patients are currently delayed between two to three months.

“Screening saves about 1,300 lives each year, so it is vital in the battle to save lives from breast cancer that when you are offered an appointment that you come forward.”

Jodie Moffat, head of early diagnosis at Cancer Research UK, said a lack of NHS capacity could impact upon its ability to deal with the backlog of women awaiting invitations, and called for the funding of extra staff.

She added: “Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. During the first year of the pandemic we saw a drop off in the number of women starting treatment for breast cancer in England, which we thought was partly linked to delays in breast cancer screening."

The screening programme sees women aged 50 to 71 invited every three years to undergo a mammogram (X-ray) designed to detect cancers that are too small to see or feel.

NHS medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: "The pandemic inevitably had an impact on some routine services and we know that fewer people came forward for cancer checks.

"The NHS is now inviting more people than ever to be screened, while investing a further £70 million to support screening services, which we know saves thousands of lives, so it remains vital that women come forward when they receive their invitation to do so."