John Leech grills Minister over breast cancer screening rates

10.58.02am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 29th Jun 2007

John Leech has fought to raise awareness of breast cancer screening

John Leech MP was part of an influential group of MPs who quizzed a health Minister on the government's record on breast cancer screening last week.

The MPs were joined by the Breakthrough Breast Cancer campaign and health experts in the meeting with health boss Rosie Winterton. Breast cancer kills over 1,000 women every month in the UK.

The number of women between the ages of 50 and 70, the group most at risk of breast cancer, is set to grow by over 20% over the next 20 years. However, many local health services are already struggling to provide routine breast cancer screening women of this age are entitled to.

"South Manchester has one of the worst rates for routine breast cancer screening in the country," John Leech said after the meeting. "If the government can't cope with the needs of older women at the moment then they're really going to struggle over the next 20 years."

"It's important that women know that if they are over the age of 50, it's their right to claim free, routine breast cancer screening," he continued. "We really need to raise people's awareness of the dangers and the services available."

Last year, John also started a Beating Breast Cancer campaign across his constituency to raise awareness of screening programmes. He collected over 1,000 signatures for a petition calling on local health bosses to do more to improve south Manchester's record on screening.

John Leech has also been raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research by taking part in the Great Manchester Run last month.

<<ENDS>>

Notes:

John Leech, Susan Kramer, Mike Penning, Dawn Butler and representatives of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Campaign met with the Rt. Hon. Rosie Winterton MP, Minister of State for Health Services and Department of Health Officials on 26th June 2007.

More information and all statistics referenced in the press release can be found at http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/

John Leech MP co-sponsored Early Day Motion 287 - Breakthrough Breast Cancer's Screening Saves Lives campaign, the text of which is set out below:

BREAKTHROUGH BREAST CANCER'S SCREENING SAVES LIVES CAMPAIGN

27.11.2006

Hodgson, Sharon

That this House recognises the tremendous work of radiographers and other NHS staff in making the NHS Breast Screening Programme, which saves 1,400 lives a year, so successful; notes that in line with the recommendations of experts the NHS Breast Screening Programme aims to screen women aged 50 to 70 years once every three years but, in reality, too many women are forced to wait longer; further notes that the main reason for these delays is often a lack of capacity in the NHS Breast Screening Programme; further notes that there are a growing number of women becoming eligible for breast screening, and that the Government expects this increase to peak in 2015, resulting in a 20 per cent. increase in women aged 50 to 70 years, in England, between 2005 and 2025; further notes with interest the recent findings of a MORI poll which revealed that 90 per cent. of women over 70 years have never requested a breast screening appointment; further notes that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Forrest report which led to the founding of the NHS Breast Screening Programme; and urges the Government to back Breakthrough Breast Cancer's Screening Saves Lives campaign to improve the effectiveness of the screening programme, review the process for self-referral for women over 70 years and ensure that the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review allows the NHS Breast Screening Programme to meet the demographic challenge it faces.

The Great Manchester Run took place on Sunday 20th May 2007. For more information on the run, please see http://gmr.realbuzz.com/. John Leech MP ran for the Breast Cancer Campaign and finished the run in 1 hour 1 minute and 46 seconds.