The NHS is set to revolutionise access to cancer screening for women in a major drive to boost uptake and save thousands of lives, the head of the NHS has announced.
From next month, the NHS will begin to roll out a new “ping and book” service, alerting the phones of women to remind them they are due or overdue an appointment, with new functionality being developed to enable millions to book screening through the NHS App next year.
The head of the health service, Amanda Pritchard, today set out reforms that will fully digitise screening delivery and help save the NHS over £130m over the next five years, while helping improve uptake by making it easier for women to take up the offer of screening.
Announcing the new drive in a speech at the NHS Providers’ annual conference, Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: “We’re making massive strides with the NHS App, with patients getting more information, convenience and control over their own care, while helping us to work more productively too.
“We are really excited by the potential of technology to revolutionise access to cancer screening for women and help ensure everyone eligible can make the most of these life-saving services at the touch of a button.
“Next month we’re starting the rollout of a new ‘ping and book’ approach for breast and cervical checks through the NHS App, which will replace costs of letters and text messages with pop-ups on your phone and help make it as convenient as possible to book appointments.”
Last year alone, NHS breast screening services detected cancers in 18,942 women across England, which otherwise may not have been diagnosed and treated until a later stage.
However despite rising uptake overall last year, the latest annual data (2022/23) shows more than a third of women (35.4%) did not take up the offer of breast screening following an invitation, with 2.18 million eligible women not having had a mammogram in the last three years.
The plans will see invitations for breast screening being sent directly via the NHS App beginning to scale from next month – to be expanded to cervical screening in the Spring 2025 – and from early 2026, the NHS is set to enable millions of women to book breast screening appointments through the App.
Eligible women will first receive a notification through the app to remind them to book an appointment, followed by an email or text message if they don’t respond, followed by a letter through the post if neither of the first two reminders have been responded to. NHS cancer screening programmes currently send over 25 million invitations, reminders and results letters to patients by post, costing £14.7 million every year.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:“As a cancer survivor, I know how devastating a diagnosis can be – and how important it is to get the right diagnosis and treatment as quickly as possible.
“If we’re going to make the NHS fit for the future, we need to catch cancers earlier so that we can give people the best possible chance of survival. I hugely welcome plans to make it easier for millions of women to book a screening by harnessing the power of the NHS App.
“This is a great example of shifting the NHS from analogue to digital and the benefits of a modern health service, which this government will deliver as part of our 10 Year Health Plan.”
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive at Cancer Research UK, said: “Screening programmes are effective tools in spotting cancer early, before symptoms start. Innovations like this could make it easier for people to access screening, and ultimately, increase the number of cancers caught at an early stage. Almost all breast cancer patients and 9 in 10 cervical cancer patients in England will survive their disease for five years or more if the disease is caught at the earliest stage.
“It’s important to remember that cancer screening is for people without symptoms though, so if you’ve noticed any changes that are not normal for you don’t wait for your next screening invite, talk to your doctor. It probably won’t be cancer, but if it is, spotting it early means that treatment is more likely to be successful.”
Athena Lamnisos, CEO at the Eve Appeal, said: “To meet the ambitious but achievable goal of eliminating cervical cancer, we need to encourage everyone eligible to take part in the screening programme. Modernising the invitation system is key to this – letting people know when screening is due and making it simple for them to book an appointment that works for them.
“Making the whole system, from booking through to results, and with easy online links to further information for support and to address any barriers to screening, would make a huge difference for the many groups who don’t find cervical screening easy. A digital first approach will be the answer for many, and at Eve we want to make sure that every single case of cervical cancer is prevented that possibly can be.”
The move comes following the announcement of a new pilot scheme in Somerset, to see whether 111 online could refer women with ‘red flag’ symptoms for breast cancer checks without the need to see a GP, as the NHS continues its drive to improve women’s health.
Claire Rowney, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said: “Breast screening plays a central role in saving more lives from breast cancer. Yet the stark reality is, thousands of women in England are missing having their breast cancer detected each year, and the decline in breast screening uptake in recent years is deeply concerning. This is why urgent changes to the breast screening programme are needed to guarantee women’s access both now and for the future.
“Modernising and making the programme more flexible and responsive to people’s needs will be key to providing accessible and efficient screening to everyone eligible. This welcome initiative to update IT and digital systems to allow for in-app invites, is a positive first step forward to encourage more women to attend breast screening.”
The NHS is working closely with the government on developing a 10-Year Health Plan which will see more innovations and technology to improve care for patients and make the delivery of healthcare more efficient for generations to come – moving the health service from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.
Members of the public, as well as NHS staff and experts have been invited to share their experiences, views and ideas for fixing the NHS via the Change NHS online platform, which will be live until the start of next year, and available via the NHS App.