National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer publishes second ‘State of the Nation’ report

This information is really important. A better understanding of how many people are living with secondary breast cancer can help the NHS to plan and provide the services, treatments and care they need. At a time when NHS budgets are increasingly under pressure, this is particularly important.

We’ve campaigned to change this for many years, alongside many of our amazing supporters living with secondary breast cancer.

This blog looks at recent progress in this area, what needs to happen next, and what we’re doing to ensure this happens.

In England, it’s been mandatory for NHS Trusts to record all new cases of breast cancer recurrence, including secondary breast cancer, since 2013. But we know that in practice this hasn’t been happening – as highlighted again by the latest report from the National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer (NAoMe), published earlier this month.

The National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer (NAoMe) uses routine data collected by the NHS across England and Wales to report on the care received by patients with secondary breast cancer.

For the second year in a row, the Audit has been unable to report accurately on all people with secondary breast cancer, due to the continuing incompleteness of data in routine datasets. Urgent action is now needed to ensure progress is made.

Breast Cancer Now successfully advocated for Scotland’s Government to improve data collection on secondary breast cancer in its Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023-2026 to drive service improvement. But they still haven’t delivered this commitment, with the current action plan ending in March 2026.

In January 2025, an audit, funded by Cancer Focus Northern Ireland, published estimates on the number of people living with metastatic breast cancer in Northern Ireland for the first time.

The Audit’s report highlights the need for improved data collection to be a priority – and recommends that NHS organisations across England and Wales look at their own performance in this area and try to improve.

We’re also determined to do our part. We’ll continue to push for the changes that are needed. Earlier this year, we launched the Count Us In Advocacy Pledge in partnership with Breast Cancer Network Australia and Rethink Breast Cancer (Canada). The Pledge calls on governments around the world to take action on this issue.

Since then, we’ve been working with clinicians, patient advocates, researchers and policy makers who attended the event to explore new ideas and solutions that could deliver the change that is needed. We stand ready to work in partnership with the UK government and the NHS to make this happen.

In England, the upcoming cancer plan, expected towards the end of this year, also presents an opportunity to address this issue.

In Wales, we're calling for health boards to be supported and resourced to use Wales’ new data form to collect accurate data on secondary breast cancer. We’ll also be monitoring if Wales starts quarterly reporting in 2027 to ensure the NHS in Wales can continuously learn from the data and be regularly monitored on data collection.

Over the next few months in Scotland, we’ll be raising awareness of the lack of data collection on secondary breast cancer amongst the public and members of the Scottish Parliament – so the Scottish Government takes action and people living with secondary breast cancer are finally counted!