Fixed times for breast screenings ‘can improve attendance rates’

Attendance rates for breast screening appointments can be improved by given women an assigned appointment time, according to new research.

The Queen Mary University of London study took place in six NHS Breast Screening Programme centres in England and involved 26,000 women who had not attended their last appointment.

It was shown that attendance within 90 days of the first offered appointment was 22.3 percent higher for those receiving a timed appointment, compared to only a 12.3 percent increase for those asked to call up and select their own appointment time.

The increase was higher for women with a lower socioeconomic status, with fixed appointments showing a substantial benefit with women who had not attended a screening appointment in the last six years, and a small benefit for those who had not attended one in nine years.

Lead researcher Professor Stephen Duffy from Queen Mary University of London said: "This study seems to indicate that fairly simple changes do substantially change behaviour, and can increase the rate of participation of screening."

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