THERE has been an increase in the number of women across the West Midlands eligible for regular breast screening taking up appointments, the latest figures show.
Mammograms are offered every three years to women between the ages of 50 and 71 and there were 689,664 women in the region eligible in the three years ending last March (2025).
During that time, 489,210 of those eligible took up the appointment, increasing the figure to 70.9 per cent.
The year before (2024), a total of 69.2 per cent went for their breast screening appointment and in 2023 the figure was 65.7 per cent.
In the Midlands in the past 12 months up to March last year, more than 3,500 cancers (3,552) were detected – 8.8 cases per 1,000 women screened – an increase from 2,985 from data from March 2024.
This means hundreds of more women in the Midlands were able to access treatment earlier when there were more options available and treatment was more likely to be effective.
Despite this progress, the latest statistics from the NHS Breast Screening Programme show that almost three in ten women did not take up the offer of screening.
The take-up rate figures vary in the different areas within the West Midlands.
The lowest was Birmingham where 109,767 women were eligible but 66,662 took up the appointment. This equated to 60.7 per cent but was up on the previous year when 58.9 per cent in the Second City attended.
Coventry was the second lowest with 63.7 per cent – 21,862 of the 34,297 eligible women had their mammogram. Again this was up from 62.6 per cent the year before.
In Solihull, 72.6 per cent of women aged 53 to 71 (19,035 out of 26,227) went for breast screening in the past 12 months. Warwickshire was a similar figure of 72.4 per cent with 52,441 out of 73,857 eligible women attending their appointments.
Area breakdowns
The highest figure in the West Midlands went to Worcestershire women with 79.6 per cent (almost four in five) attending their breast screening appointment – 61,757 out of 77,616.
Despite percentage rises in all West Midlands areas, apart from Walsall, local screening services are working with NHS England in a bid to improve uptake.
This includes targeted outreach in lower-attending areas, reminder texts and expanded use of mobile screening units to bring services closer to home.
The NHS also launched its first-ever national breast screening campaign in February last year to support even more women to come forward.
The drive is backed by charities including Breast Cancer Now and featured public figures including Victoria Derbyshire, Julia Bradbury and Shirley Ballas who all shared personal messages to encourage women to attend.
During the campaign period, the NHS saw a huge increase in people accessing information online, with tens of thousands of women visiting NHS breast screening pages in a single week and clicks to the screening service finder rising sharply.
Stephanie Beaumont, head of public health commissioning and operations – Screening for the West Midlands, said: “Breast screening saves lives.
“It is encouraging to see more women attending but we know there is still more to do to encourage those who do not.
“We are working on making it as convenient as possible for women to access the service by using mobile units which can be located in supermarket car parks and community centres as well as hospital-based sites.
“If you receive an invitation, please don’t ignore it – it is an appointment that could save your life.”
Women aged 50 up to the age of 71 are invited for breast screening every three years, with appointments provided locally through clinics and mobile units.
NHS England said breast screening did, however, have some risks.
Some women who have screening will be diagnosed and treated for slow-growing breast cancers that may never otherwise have been found or caused them harm.
Mammograms also do not always find a cancer that is there, but most people feel the benefits of breast screening outweigh the possible risks.
