Screening figures are a healthy sign (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Screening figures are a healthy sign

8:30am Monday 25th January 2010 in Our View By Telegraph & Argus

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalant and invasive forms of cancer that blights our society today.

Thankfully, if the illness is caught early enough, then much can be done to combat it and save lives.

However, not all women avail themselves of the wide-ranging screening programmes provided by local health services.

Very often, people say they do not have time, put it off to another day, or sometimes are worried about what the results may show.

So it is extremely encouraging news that the Bradford-based Pennine Breast Screening Programme today reports a 30 per cent increase in the number of women attending breast-screening appointments.

The service makes it as easy as possible for women to take the quick and painless tests – they provide mobile units which travel around the region and set up shop at more than 40 locations, as well as a clinic in Bradford and two other units at fixed locations.

Some 43,000 women who were eligible for testing took up the invitation, compared to 33,000 the previous year.

But when you consider that 57,000 invitations were sent out, there are still thousands of women who are not taking the tests.

Let’s hope that the service’s successes are repeated in years to come, and the numbers taking up the tests increase to the point where everybody eligible takes their test – there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain, after all.