Regular mammograms are NHS breast screening checks that use X-rays to look for cancers that are too small to see or feel.
Early detection means cancer can be treated more quickly and with better success rates, but about a million women are estimated to have missed screenings due to Covid.
That statistic prompted MP Dawn Butler, whose breast cancer was diagnosed during a routine mammogram, to join forces with Metro for the Million Missed Mammograms campaign (#FindTheMillion).
Anyone registered with a GP as female, between the ages of 50 and 71 will be invited for NHS breast screening every three years. This comes in a letter in the post.
If you’ve not been invited for breast screening by the time you are 53 and think you should have been, contact your local breast screening service. Those aged 71 or over will not automatically be invited for breast screening, but can still be screened every three years if they want to.
During screening, four breast X-rays are taken, two for each breast. These are done by a specialist screener.
Here’s what will happen during the appointment.
You’ll need to undress from the waist up, in a private changing area.
In the X-ray room the specialist screener, known as a mammographer, will explain what will happen.
They will place your breast on to the X-ray machine. It will be squeezed between two pieces of plastic to keep it still while the images are taken. This takes a few seconds and you need to stay still.
The machine will then be tilted to one side and the process will be repeated on the side of your breast. Your other breast will be scanned in the same way.
And that’s it. All that remains is to get dressed and await the results, which are normally sent by post.
See a GP if you have any symptom of breast cancer, even if you have recently had a clear breast screening. The earlier the cancer is caught, the better.
Find out more at nhs.uk/conditionsbreast-screening-mammogram
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