Breast Cancer

The National Cancer Plan for England, published in February this year, committed to define and count recurrent cancers, starting with breast cancer. The National Disease Registration Service is working towards publishing a baseline figure of metastatic breast cancer patients in the last quarter of 2026 as per the commitment in the plan.

Through this National Cancer Plan action, we will ensure that every person with secondary breast cancer has faster diagnosis and treatment, access to the latest treatments and technology, and high-quality support throughout their journey, while we work to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including breast cancer. This information can be found at sources including the NHS website, at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/

NHS breast screening for women at very high risk (VHR) starts earlier and is more frequent than those not at VHR. Guidance on eligibility for VHR screening is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breast-screening-higher-risk-women-surveillance-protocols

Women at VHR of breast cancer are now identified within the NHS National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Registry, and referred into the NHS Breast Screening Programme, which has enabled reconciliation to ensure that all identified women are safely referred into the programme. This is a step towards a fully electronic referral VHR process into the NHS Breast Screening Programme.