Breast Screening
Reasons for not attending breast screening
The National Health Service Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP) was set up in 1988. Women between the ages of 50 and 70 are now routinely invited for free screening every three years. Screening is for all well women without symptoms, whether they have a family history of breast cancer or not. Women over 70 are encouraged to make their own appointments.
Some women choose not to attend for breast screening. Others attend on some occasions and not others. Women's reasons for non-attendance vary - some don't go because they feel they are too busy. Others are deterred by the pain or discomfort of having a mammogram. Some women choose not to go because they feel fit and healthy and do not think they are at risk of developing breast cancer. Studies suggest that a few women don't go for screening because they are afraid of being diagnosed with breast cancer. Other research has found that some women are put off going if they've had a false positive result - one where something is seen on the mammogram but this turns out not to be cancer (see 'False positive results'). Being referred to a breast clinic for further tests after screening can be worrying and can deter women from attending in future.
A British Chinese woman, who was running a family business, said she missed several screening appointments because she was extremely busy with work. When her husband suggested there was no need to attend if she felt fit and well, she decided not to go until she was less busy. She had also been put off from attending a second time because her first mammogram had been painful. She hadn't heard of breast screening before she was invited and said that her daughter translated the invitation letter for her. Language barriers and poor access to information about breast screening can sometimes deter some women from attending.
One woman, who found the mammogram extremely painful, chose not to go for breast screening for many years. Another, who'd had a benign (non cancer) condition when she was in her late twenties, said she was too frightened to go for screening. She noted that some cancers don't show up on mammograms and sometimes mistakes are made with the results. She wondered if there was any point in being screened if the results couldn't be trusted.
Found mammograms extremely painful and chose not to attend for screening for many years.
Found mammograms extremely painful and chose not to attend for screening for many years.
And I really was literally bent over in pain when I came out. And not everybody finds it painful, some do. So foolishly I said I'm not going back for any more, and I didn't.
When you got the results back off that'?
That was all right, clear. Yes, that's right. And I should have gone back I think about three years later, but I didn't.
Yeah. And then three years later again, you didn't?
That's right. I'm just trying to think how long afterwards. Well I'm coming up for five years now, so it was before - it was in the last twelve years.
A few women had been diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ - 'DCIS') through screening. They had reservations about being screened for a condition that doctors didn't fully understand. One of these women chose not to have any more routine mammograms. She didn't see the point of her going for breast screening again and felt that it would be like 'looking for trouble'. She criticised the current NHS breast screening leaflet for not sufficiently spelling out the benefits and risks of breast screening and for not including a visual representation of breast cancer diagnoses and deaths in women who are screened compared with those who aren't. Several women stressed that attending for breast screening was a personal choice and should be an informed choice.
Discusses why she will have no more screening after her DCIS diagnosis.
Discusses why she will have no more screening after her DCIS diagnosis.
So either I will or I won't, if I get a recurrence, find it in sufficient time. It depends upon the sort of cancer I may or may not get. It might be a tiny, aggressive one, which will be curtains anyway so what good would a screening have done? It might be another ductal carcinoma in situ, which will take another 30 years to get anywhere significant so, bearing in mind how old I am [laughing] does that matter? I think not.
So, and my philosophy is today is the day that matters. You know, be reasonably sensible about what's life but don't go looking for trouble and don't think you can guard against all the uncertainties and quirks that are going to go and flip you round the ear because I'll probably die of double pneumonia or something when it comes to it (laughs).
Says that going for screening is an individual choice and should be an informed choice.
Says that going for screening is an individual choice and should be an informed choice.
Well it's always an individual choice, isn't it, in this day and age one's always got to make up one's own mind. And there is a lot of information to help you make up your mind and I suppose one of the routes of information is getting it from friends and colleagues and particularly people who've been before you.
Some women noted that, although they went for breast screening, they knew people who didn't. One said that some of her relatives didn't go for screening and that some women don't attend because they are afraid of being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Some of her relatives don't attend for screening and this can be because of fear.
Some of her relatives don't attend for screening and this can be because of fear.
Why do you think people don't go, even relatives when they know what ...?
I think it's fear of knowing. I think it's the fear that, you know, whereas most people who go think they're going to be told everything's okay, perhaps there are a certain group of people who fear that they're going to be told everything isn't okay and that's why they can't face going, I don't know. But it's much better to know early than late.
Last reviewed March 2016.
Last updated March 2016.
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