Thank you for your interest in informed choice about cancer screening

Informed Choice about Cancer Screening consulted with over 1,000 people about how best to promote informed choice about NHS Cancer Screening Programmes.

As a result, a new approach to developing information for people invited for screening on NHS Cancer Screening has been agreed.

The new approach means that people eligible for cancer screening will continue to receive a letter of invitation for screening from the NHS Cancer Screening Programme, but they will also receive balanced and even-handed information about the harms and benefits of screening and what screening involves. The development of information will be led by Informed Choice about Cancer Screening and not NHS Cancer Screening Programmes.

The new approach will now be used to develop information about NHS Cancer Screening Programmes. Following the publication in October 2012 of the Independent Breast Screening Review, led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot, we are developing information for women invited to have breast screening. To find out what women think about how information about benefits and harms of breast screening should be presented to women, we held a citizens’ jury in November 2012.  More information on the citizens’ jury is available here.