An update on our screening blueprint... 3 years later

The screening blueprint was our proposal for how breast screening in the England could be improved by 2028. It was launched in March 2023 as part of our #NoTimeToWaste campaign, which is focused on saving lives from breast cancer through early diagnosis. In the blueprint, we called for changes to the breast screening programme to make it:

1. Accessible
2. Efficient
3. Transparent
4. Well-resourced
5. Ready for the future

You can read the full blueprint and its recommendations here.

Securing a first of its kind national screening awareness campaign

In January 2024, in response to the continuing decline in screening attendance, we called for NHS England to run a national awareness campaign to encourage breast screening attendance, especially amongst those women who were least likely to attend.

Thanks to the help of over 55,000 supporters who backed our call, NHS England ran a national breast screening awareness campaign in early 2025 and worked closely with us to develop screening messages that would reach and resonate with their target audiences.

Although data for the long-term impacts of this campaign are yet to be published, visits to NHS breast screening advice pages increased by 145% in just the first week of the campaign, and the number of people accessing our own information also spiked.

We want the government to publish its evaluation of the campaign so we can better understand its impact and learn lessons for future campaigns across the UK.

Our blueprint called for incentives for Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) to deliver breast screening provision, especially in the areas that need it most. CDCs are core to the NHS’ plan to improve cancer diagnosis.

But the majority of centres do not currently offer mammography or aren’t involved in promoting or educating women about the importance of screening, which we felt was a real missed opportunity.

The latest CDC review for a sustainable future recommends including cancer screening programmes in all CDCs as part of the next phase of their work. This is a win, but we need this to be delivered and see how this is integrated into practice.

We've also started and will continue to work with regional healthcare leaders on screening, after collaborating with local services to explore how to increase breast screening uptake in London. In the report, we explored how better links can be made to deliver and support screening locally through CDCs.

We’ve placed tackling inequalities at the core of our new strategy, as well as in our blueprint and other work on screening.

NHS England’s recent review of breast screening uptake, its statement on health inequalities, and even the new National Cancer Plan for England, all acknowledge the challenge of unequal screening uptake. They also acknowledge what these disparities mean for certain groups who are at risk of being diagnosed late.

The uptake review sets out the government plan to tackle some of the root causes of poor uptake. This includes updating resources and breast screening information to be available in 30 languages and other accessible formats, improving staff training, and working with primary care to promote screening in their communities.

These are definitely steps in the right direction, but we need to see these promises delivered in practice for progress to be made.

We were pleased to see a focus on screening inequalities in the National Cancer Plan, as well. As part of the plan, services are being asked to work with local communities on targeted campaigns to improve screening in deprived, ethnic minority and underserved communities.

We’ve been calling for better disability access to screening, so were pleased to see the government commit to work with manufacturers to create more accessible machines. However, there’s no specific timeframe for when these new machines will be delivered or a commitment to offer an alternative for women who are still unable to undergo mammography.

Our blueprint called for breast screening services to have access to timely, robust data to help them when making planning decisions.

In the uptake improvement review, the government agreed that the amount of data currently available isn’t good enough, and promised to make improvements.

In the National Cancer Plan, they also promised to create national linkable datasets that cover all cancer screening programmes, to help improve our understanding of who is not turning up to screening.

These are big promises and would be massive steps forward if delivered. But we need more information and timelines for how these datasets will be set up, what information will be collected, and how it will be used to improve the care women receive.

Better data collection and reporting will only be possible thanks to the progress that has been made to deliver the Digital Transformation of Screening programme, which was another call in our blueprint.

Currently, new digital tools are being rolled out in breast screening. This will not only make better data collection possible, but will also enable screening services to meet the commitment made in the National Cancer Plan to book and manage all screening appointments through the NHS app by 2028.

Our blueprint called for a breast screening programme that would be ready for the future. To deliver this, we wanted to see government produce a horizon scanning report on how breast screening is likely to evolve over the next decade, and we wanted them to future-proof key parts of the programme, like digital upgrades and workforce planning and training.

We’re pleased that the government in the National Cancer Plan has said it will monitor the outcomes from screening research, including the EDITH trial which uses AI to support radiologists in identifying breast cancer and studies like BRAID, which are looking at the benefits of offering additional imaging to women with dense breasts. They have also committed to exploring whether new digital tools could be used to introduce a more risk-based approach to cancer screening.

While monitoring research is important, we’re concerned about the lack of transparency and urgency with which breast screening recommendations are being made.

Upskilling and more training for the screening workforce was included in the uptake improvement review. But we haven’t seen any progress on our call for the NHS to publish projections on the future levels of demand for breast screening or commit to providing the workforce and funding needed to meet it.

We’re so proud of the wins we’ve achieved, alongside our incredible supporters, but there’s still more to do.

We’re glad to see some big ambitions in the uptake review, but we must make sure these ambitions are met. Our focus continues to be on ensuring that the government follows through on their commitments, and campaigning for change when they don’t.

One specific area where we’re calling for further action, is on the integration of additional screening for women at increased risk into the national screening programme.

Right now, the national programme only delivers screening for women at very-high risk. We know women at moderate or high risk (who should also be screened earlier and more often) are not consistently getting the screening they deserve.

The support available to at-risk women shouldn’t be based on their postcode. We believe that providing all at-risk screening through the national programme, which comes with clear standards, oversight, and quality requirements, will help ensure all women are offered the right screening, in line with their risk level, regardless of where they live.

We’re continuing to explore how better links can be made to deliver and support screening locally and we’re calling for a similar focus on screening uptake in the devolved nations. As part of our #NoTimeToWaste Wales campaign, we called for a breast screening awareness campaign in Wales, focused on communities with low uptake.

We’re also committed to working with Public Health Wales and Breast Test Wales on developing the next Screening Equity Strategy, which should help improve access to those who most struggle to take up screening.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are yet to publish their breast screening data for 2023/24 or 2024/25 - 2 years behind England.

We’re calling on all nations in the UK to increase data reporting, to ensure greater transparency and accountability within their screening programmes and allow for evidence-based decision making and long-term planning for breast screening services.