How do you inspire thousands of women to get checked for breast cancer?

With fewer people taking up breast screening appointments, NHS England needed an evidence-led strategy that could reverse this trend.

We began by modelling cancer screening data by local authority. This showed that attendance rates were driven by differences in demographics, not service delivery. 

Next, we dug deeper, studying 60+ research papers and interviewing frontline teams. Then we mapped our insights using behaviour change tools and worked with academic expert to stress-test our findings.

Breast cancer is an emotive topic, with many voices to consider. By combining high quality evidence with a clear plan, we were able to bring NHS teams and partners along with us.

Our final strategy encouraged women to prioritise their health and by saying ‘yes’ to screening. Crucially, where cancer comms have often raised peoples levels of cancer concern, we flipped the script to focus on the peace of mind screening can bring.

This shaped a major media and PR campaign across GP surgeries, digital and TV, including a primetime slot on Good Morning Britain – and early results show that it’s working.