Women in Bramley and Wortley are being urged to take up invitations for breast screening appointments.
Invitations to attend breast cancer screenings are currently being sent to women living in areas of Bramley and Wortley. Anyone who has received an invite for a breast screening are urged to please book their appointment with their GP surgeries as soon as possible.
Every three years, women between 47 and 73 years-old are routinely invited to undertake a screening, which involves a mammogram X-ray.
The aim of the mammogram procedure is to detect any small changes in breast tissue that may indicate cancers that are too small to be seen or felt by the woman herself or a doctor.
Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s Executive Member with responsibility for Public Health and Active Lifestyles, said:
“Through different partnership initiatives such as Cancer Wise Leeds we are working extremely hard as a city to not only increase uptake in screenings, but also support various initiatives focusing on the key areas of prevention and awareness.
“Screening plays a hugely vital role in detecting cancer early, and we would urge anyone who has been invited for a breast screening in Leeds to please book their appointment immediately.”
A range of work is currently being undertaken to boost screening rates in Leeds, which have been impacted by the varied challenges of coronavirus. Breast screening saves around 1,300 lives each year in the UK.
One such project being delivered in the city seeking to improve participation in the screening programmes for breast cancer and also bowel cancer and cervical cancer is Cancer Wise Leeds.
The project is funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research, led by Leeds City Council and delivered in partnership with the Leeds Cancer Programme. Supporting this aim over the three-year programme are six Screening and Awareness coordinators.
Working within Primary Care Networks in communities across the city, the coordinators are working with communities to better understand how the screening process could be improved to meet their needs.
Do attend breast screening, I did in 1998, a cancer was found, I had surgery and have been fine ever since. It’s worthwhile!