Your questions answered
What is Cancer?
Cancer sometimes begins in one part of the body before spreading to other areas. It is when abnormal cells divide in an uncontrolled way. These cancerous cells can invade and destroy surrounding healthy tissue, including organs.
How common is it?
In the UK 1 in 2 people will get cancer in their lifetime. In the South Asian UK population women often present later with more of an advanced stage of the disease.
Bradford and Cancer Screening
The Bradford District has 60,000 women eligible for bowel screening, 72,000 breast screening and 156,000 cervical screening. Cancer screening rates in the GP practice of 5 Bradford postcodes (BD2, 3, 5, 7 and 8) are lower than the average.
Cancer screening can save lives. Picking up cancer at an early stage means that treatment is more likely to work, and more people survive.
Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK. Most women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 50, but younger women can also get breast cancer.
About 1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. However, if detected at an early stage there is a good chance of recovery, indicating the importance of breast cancer screening.
South Asian women are less likely to have their screening than other women. Well person screening is important to diagnose cancer early which increases the chances of surviving breast cancer.
Further information
Women FAQs
NHS – How to decide if you want a breast screening/
Govuk – Breast screening, helping women decide
Bowel Cancer
Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that begins in the large bowel. Depending on where the cancer starts, bowel cancer is sometimes called colon or rectal cancer.
Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer diagnosed in the UK. Most people diagnosed with it are over the age of 60.
The number of people from the South Asian community that take part in bowel cancer screening in the UK is low, at around 30%. If screening rates were higher, earlier detection would allow for earlier treatment and more lives to be saved.
Further information
Gov.uk – Bowel cancer screening benefits and risks
NHS – Bowel cancer screening
Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer is a cancer that’s found anywhere in the cervix. It’s part of the reproductive system and is sometimes called the neck of the womb.
Any woman can get cervical cancer and may feel well so they don’t know they have it. It is important to have screening when offered, as picking up cervical cancer early means the individual is more likely to survive.
You cannot get cervical cancer if you’ve had surgery to remove your womb and cervix (total hysterectomy).
You might also be more likely to get cervical cancer if:
- you’re under 45 – cervical cancer is more common in younger people
- you have given birth to multiple children or had children at an early age (under 17 years old)
Further information
Gov.uk – Cervical screening description in brief
What is cervical screening