New figures today show that in 2024/25, 1.94m women aged 50 to 70 attended screening within six months of invitation, up nearly 200,000 (193,745) from 1.75m the previous year.
As a result, nearly 20,000 cancers (19,291) were detected – 9 cases in every 1,000 women screened – which is up almost 16% on the previous year, when 16,677 cancers were diagnosed through NHS breast screening.
Attendance among women invited for screening for the first time reached 63.6%, the highest level in a decade, with 4.79m eligible women now up to date with their breast screening – also a 10-year high.
Overall, around 71.8% of eligible women are now up to date with screening under the programme's three-year standard, up 1.8 percentage points on last year.
Despite this progress, the latest statistics from the NHS Breast Screening Programme show that around three in ten women did not take up the offer of screening.
Dr Harrison Carter, director of screening at NHS England, said: ‘Breast screening can save lives. With nearly 20,000 cancers detected early through screening last year, it's encouraging to see more women attending, especially those invited for the first time, because making screening a habit can help protect your health for years to come."
‘But we know there are a range of reasons why some women don't come forward and there is much more still to do to support more women to access breast screening. If you receive an invitation, please don't ignore it. It's an appointment that could save your life.'
The NHS also launched its first-ever national breast screening campaign in February last year to support even more women to come forward. Backed by charities including Breast Cancer Now, the campaign 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.
