Women stop receiving 3 yearly invitations for breast screening at the age of 71. We believe most are not aware that they can still request a 3 yearly breast screen from their GP.

In England, around 13,500 women aged 70 and over are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. The risk of developing breast cancer increases with age and around 1 in 3 women who get breast cancer are over 70. Each year, almost half of all breast cancer deaths in the UK are in people aged 75 and over. We think it is illogical, therefore, that when the risk increases the routine invitations for screening are stopped and women are not made more widely aware that they can still request screening.