Who is screened?
- All women of 50 years of age and over are eligible for breast screening.
- Women aged between 50 to 70 are invited automatically. The upper age was increased from 64 in early 2006.
- Women may be up to 52 years of age by the time they receive their first appointment.
- BTW aims to offer screening every three years.
- Women aged over 70 are screened on request at intervals of no less than three years.
We identify women from their GPs’ lists so it is important that your doctor always has your correct name and address. [please note eligibility for screening]
We invite each doctor’s practice in turn. You will not necessarily get your invitation in the year that you turn 50. As long as you are registered with a doctor, we will invite you for breast screening before your 53rd birthday. [read more about the screening age range]
Women over age 70 may ask us for an appointment every three years by getting in touch with their local Breast Test Wales screening centre.
Women aged between 50 and 70 who are being followed up at a hospital breast clinic will still receive an invitation from Breast Test Wales unless they ask us to stop sending them.
We may also send an invitation to women who have had a bilateral mastectomy (both breasts removed) if we have not been told by them or their GP about this.
Routine breast screening for women under 50 and without symptoms has not yet been proven to reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer. Women at increased risk because of a family history of breast cancer may benefit from screening at an earlier age. [read more about family history screening]
The Eligible Population
All women aged 50 and over are eligible for breast screening once every three years. When people register with general practitioners, their names, addresses, dates of birth and other data are held centrally on a computer database. This database is used to invite women in the identified age range (currently 50 to 70) for breast screening. As in most parts of the UK , BTW invites each general practice in turn over the three year period, so that each woman receives her first invitation before the age of 53 (not necessarily in the year she reaches the age of 50). Some women may not wish to participate and if they let us know in writing, their records are marked so that they are not invited again, unless they change their minds. The same database is used for women over the invited age group who ask to be screened.
