Claire Rowney, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said:
“Today’s Scottish Government Breast Screening Modernisation Programme Board Report makes it clear the scale of the challenge facing the programme - understaffed and overstretched, with ageing infrastructure and equipment.
“So it’s welcome news the Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland (SOAS) have been tasked to take the recommendations for change forward, crucially to improve accessibility and help ensure the 80% breast screening uptake target can be reached to save more women’s lives from breast cancer.
“We estimate that had the 80% achievable breast screening uptake target been met in 2022/2023, over 100 additional breast cancer cases could have been detected in Scotland.[1] This would have given more women the best chance of being diagnosed at the earliest possible stage when survival rates are highest. Not only that, but in our recent report with Demos we found that meeting this target could generate for Scotland an estimated £14-£16 million in economic savings and £136 million in wellbeing gains in 2025. [2]
“We urge SOAS to urgently adopt the Board’s recommendations, including delivering a national breast screening workforce plan and ensuring the breast screening service is nationally managed. Only then will it be possible to ensure women across Scotland have equitable access to breast screening both today and in future.
“And after already waiting seven months it’s vital that Scotland’s Breast Screening Programme Statistics for 2023/2024 are published without any further delay to understand the true current picture of breast screening in Scotland.”
ENDS
References
[1] Breast Cancer Now analysis of Scottish breast screening programme statistics 2022/23. Calculated by applying the rate of cancers detected per 1,000 women, to the number of women screened from routine invitations 2022/23 with uptake adjusted to the achievable level of 80%.
[2] Demos Report, The cost of breast cancer 2025 Update