Breast cancer screening saves lives

Ann and Amanda on House of Commons terrace

Ann Coffey MP and Amanda Love from Edgeley have joined forces to urge Stockport women to attend routine screening for breast cancer, which could save their lives.

Amanda, a nurse, who lives in Range Road, was called for a routine screening last December and was shocked to discover she had undetected breast cancer.

She travelled to Westminster to meet Ann during Breast Cancer Awareness Month to discuss ways of promoting greater understanding of the illness and how to bring about improvement in services.

Amanda was part of a parliamentary lobby organised by Breakthrough Breast Cancer, the UK’s leading charity committed to fighting breast cancer through research and education.

Women from all over the country came to London to speak to their MPs to make sure the issue stays at the top of the political agenda in the eighth “Westminster Fly-in” that has been organized by the charity.

Amanda told Ann she wanted to stress how important it was that women in Stockport took up the offer of routine screening. 

Amanda said: “It was lucky that I was called for a routine screening because I had undetected cancer and it was caught early.

“It could be any one in any street in Stockport. I would urge women to make the time to go to screening checks because it could save your life.”

Ann Coffey revealed figures for Stockport Primary Care Trust, which showed that more women than ever - around 15,000 women aged between 53-64 years are screened for breast cancer every three years.

This figure has risen from 63 per cent of all Stockport women screened in March 2003 to 74 per cent in March 2006.

Around 60 women in Stockport die as a result of breast cancer each year. However, the five year moving average has declined between 1997 and 2005 from 125 deaths per 100,000 women to 107.

Ann Coffey said:  “I am pleased to support today’s lobby. The number of women being screened in Stockport continues to rise. I am also pleased that we are extending the NHS breast screening programme for women to take in all those between the ages of 47 to 73.”

Currently women between 50 and 70 are called for routine screening checks every three years.