High Level Priorities
Screening uptake is decreasing across the borough, with uptake varying between 38.3% and 81.7% in communities in North Tyneside (Tables 1 and 2 p5 below). The priority for North Tyneside is therefore to increase breast screening uptake by increasing awareness of screening, removing existing barriers to screening and improving the processes for accessing appointments.
Increase awareness of screening programme
Professional Partners
Local healthcare and partners have different ways of reaching and communicating with the communities they serve. For them to endorse and answer any questions about the screening programme as trusted voices in their communities, it is essential they are informed of when, where, and how the national programme will be operating in their area. This allows them to plan any interventions and raise awareness within their communities through informational and promotional resources in the local area.
General Population
Raising general population awareness of the programme may impact on uptake as it may enable conversations within families and communities.
Remove barriers to screening
Known barriers to breast screening include:
- not feeling that breast screening is relevant to them
- not thinking they are at risk of breast cancer
- not understanding the information that has been sent to them
- fear – of the possible pain caused from the procedure and of breast cancer
- embarrassment or modesty
- lack of time
- apathy towards attendance
- accessibility issues
- cultural or religious beliefs
- sense of fatalism
- an informed decision not to attend
While screening should always be a choice, it is likely that the uptake and variation seen across North Tyneside is not solely a reflection of informed choice given the known barriers to uptake.
The change in processes to mitigate the delays from the pandemic may have created additional barriers to screening.
Improve processes for accessing appointments
Some of the known barriers (above) relate to accessing the service itself. The rigidity of the national programme may need to be supplemented locally, where practical, to help address the screening variation across the borough.