Cancer screening coverage: breast cancer - WMCA

The proportion of women eligible for screening who have had a test with a recorded result at least once in the previous 36 months. ## Rationale Breast screening supports early detection of cancer and is estimated to save 1,400 lives in England each year. This indicator provides an opportunity to incentivise screening promotion and other local initiatives to increase coverage of breast screening.Improvements in coverage would mean more breast cancers are detected at earlier, more treatable stages. Breast screening supports early detection of cancer and is estimated to save 1,400 lives in England each year. This indicator provides an opportunity to incentivise screening promotion and other local initiatives to increase coverage of breast screening.Improvements in coverage would mean more breast cancers are detected at earlier, more treatable stages. ## Definition of numerator Tested women (numerator) is the number of eligible women aged 53 to 70 registered with a GP with a screening test result recorded in the past 36 months. ## Definition of denominator Eligible women (denominator) is the number of women aged 53 to 70 years resident in the area (determined by postcode of residence) who are eligible for breast screening at a given point in time, excluding those whose recall has been ceased for clinical reasons (for example, due to previous bilateral mastectomy). ## Caveats Data for ICBs are estimated from local authority data. In most cases ICBs are coterminous with local authorities, so the ICB figures are precise. In cases where local authorities cross ICB boundaries, the local authority data are proportionally split between ICBs, based on population located in each ICB. The affected ICBs are: * Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire; * Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes; * Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West; * Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; * Frimley; * Hampshire and Isle of Wight; * Hertfordshire and West Essex; * Humber and North Yorkshire; * Lancashire and South Cumbria; * Norfolk and Waveney; * North East and North Cumbria; * Suffolk and North East Essex; * Surrey Heartlands; * Sussex; * West Yorkshire. Please be aware that the April 2019 to March 2020, April 2020 to March 2021 and April 2021 to March 2022 data covers the time period affected by the COVID19 pandemic and therefore data for this period should be interpreted with caution. This indicator gives screening coverage by local authority . This is not the same as the indicator based on population registered with primary care organisations which include patients wherever they live. This is likely to result in different England totals depending on selected (registered or resident) population footprint. The indicator excludes women outside the target age range for the screening programme who may self refer for screening. Standards say "Women who are ineligible for screening due to having had a bilateral mastectomy, women who are ceased from the programme based on a ‘best interests’ decision under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 or women who make an informed choice to remove themselves from the screening programme will be removed from the numerator and denominator. There are a number of categories of women in the eligible age range who are not registered with a GP and subsequently not called for screening as they are not on the Breast Screening Select (BS Select) database. Screening units have a responsibility to maximise coverage of eligible women in their target population and should therefore be accessible to women in this category through self referral and GP referral ."This indicator gives screening coverage by local authority . This is not the same as the indicator based on population registered with primary care organisations which include patients wherever they live. This is likely to result in different England totals depending on selected (registered or resident) population footprint.