The implementation of the age extension of BreastCheck to 65-69 year olds commenced in Quarter 4 of 2015. BreastCheck invited 1,267 women in this age category for screening in 2015 and 852 of these were screened before the end of the year. In 2016, BreastCheck will invite over 11,000 women aged 65-69 for screening, and every effort will be made to encourage a high uptake rate.
The age extension is being implemented on an incremental basis, in line with the capacity of the system to manage the additional screening and follow up workload. The additional eligible population is approximately 100,000 and, when fully implemented, 540,000 women will be included in the BreastCheck Programme.
Women of any age who have concerns about breast cancer should seek the advice of their GP who will, if appropriate, refer them to the symptomatic breast services in one of the eight designated cancer centres.