My Weekly’s favourite GP Dr Sarah Jarvis from TV and radio writes for you
As a nation, we’re doing very well health-wise. In the last 50 years, average life expectancy has increased by almost 10 years in the UK.
So today, a man can “expect” on average to live to 79 years old and a woman to almost 83. A lot of that is down to improved treatments – for heart attack, stroke, cancer and more.
However much more of this good news is down to screening – which lets doctors pick up conditions early, when treatment is more likely to be effective.
The NHS has multiple national screening programmes, and if you take up screening when it’s offered, you can stack the odds of a healthy older age in your favour. Here are some of the most important.
Breast screening is offered to all women in the UK every three years, starting from some time in the three years after you turn 50 until your 70th birthday.
After that, you can request screening every three years by phoning your local breast screening service. In some areas, screening invitations are being offered to women once they reach 47.
Breast screening involves a mammogram – an X-ray of both breasts – that takes just a few minutes. My last one was done in a mobile unit in a supermarket car park – the scans performed here are every bit as reliable as those done in hospital.
Most women get the all-clear after a breast screening within a couple of weeks. If there’s any abnormality, you’ll be invited for further tests at a hospital clinic. This may involve a painless ultrasound scan and a biopsy of tissue taken with a needle.
It’s estimated that breast screening saves 1,300 lives a year. It is important to bear in mind that this screening isn’t 100% accurate – screening can’t always tell the difference between changes that wouldn’t cause any harm and aggressive breast cancer.
So, it’s thought that for every one woman whose life is saved by breast screening, three women end up having unnecessary treatment.
Personally, I think this is a small price to pay for peace of mind – even though I had a breast cancer scare after screening five years ago – but you must weigh up the risks and benefits for yourself.
Cervical screening (also known as smear testing) checks for the presence of a virus called HPV, which causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer.
You’ll be invited every five years until you’re 65 years old (in Scotland and Wales,
