London is the only region in England failing to hit minimum targets for breast cancer screening.
Figures show that the NHS is performing more mammograms every year but is not keeping pace with the increase in the capital’s population.
The performance is worst in two of the most affluent boroughs — Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster — with a screening rate well below the minimum standard of inviting 70 per cent of women aged 50 to 70 for a test every three years.
Dr Caitlin Palframan, of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “We’d like local authorities in London to consider the reasons for this inequality and work towards improving uptake in the region.” The figures, from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, reveal screening rates in 2012/13 in Kensington and Chelsea of 58.3 per cent and in Westminster of 59.1 per cent.
Other poor performers were Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham and Lambeth. Only in 10 of the capital’s 31 NHS areas was the target reached, with the best performance in Bexley, where the rate was 77.9 per cent.
The city-wide average was 68.7 per cent, the only region in England to fail to achieve the required minimum.
In the three years to March 31 last year, 461,715 Londoners were screened, up 14,000 on the previous year’s cumulative figure, but not enough to keep pace with the rising numbers of women eligible for screening. In 2012/13, 228,955 women were screened in London for breast cancer, with tumours being found on 1,909 occasions.
