Thanks to the ongoing support from local fundraisers, a new breast screening awareness bus hits the road in Plymouth in April 2023 as part of The Primrose Foundations Support Us To Support You campaign that aims to help encourage more people to attend their breast screening appointments.

The campaign initially came about after recent figures showed a worrying fall in the uptake of breast screening appointments nationally and locally. The overall uptake in the Plymouth area dropped to 72.5%. In some parts of Plymouth, the figure dropped to 54%.

The Primrose Foundation and The Primrose Breast Care Centre Screening Team at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust have jointly funded the bus. The bright and colourful Plymouth Citybus double-decker has been given a massive makeover in the Foundation's pink, yellow and grey colours.

The sides of the bus carry the slogan, 'Breast Screening Saves Lives – Always attend your free screening appointment,' and you will find our 'Support Us To Support You'' message displayed on the back of the bus.

For 12 months from April 2023, Plymouth Citybus will use the bus on routes across the city, but primarily where breast screening take-up is known to be particularly low.

Dr Karen Paisley, Director of Breast Screening at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, said: "This is a great initiative to try and improve uptake for breast screening. We know that the impact of screening in saving lives from breast cancer is more significant the more women that attend for their screening mammogram.

"Screening saves about one life from breast cancer for every 200 women screened, as cancers are diagnosed and treated earlier than they would have been without screening. Unfortunately, there has been a drop in uptake recently. Overall, uptake in our local programme was only 72.5% in 2021-22, a drop of nearly 8% in the last ten years (78.5% in 2010-11) and is as low as 54% in some areas of Plymouth City.

"While this compares favourably with national uptake (62.3% in 2021-22, a drop of 15% since 2010-11), we are working hard locally to explore the reasons for non-attendance and to try and address these, ensure equity of access, improve uptake and, consequently, improve the mortality benefit of breast screening."

Madeleine Matthews, our Fundraising Coordinator, added: "With this bus, we are taking the all-important message right into the heart of our community. We hope the bright, eye-catching double-decker bus will grab people's attention and encourage them to use the West Devon and East Cornwall breast screening services."

The Foundation has supported The Primrose Breast Care Centre for over 27 years, raising public awareness and millions of pounds to enhance breast care treatments. Each year over 25,000 people are seen by the service, and between 400-600 breast cancers are diagnosed and treated.

The bus is partly being paid for by money raised by a group of nine local women who call themselves 'Dare 2'. They have all received a breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment at The Primrose Breast Care Centre. The women raised almost £12,000 at a charity 'Dare 2 Dance' evening at The Duke of Cornwall Hotel last autumn. They specifically asked that their donation be used to promote awareness about the importance of attending breast screening appointments when invited.

As a local charity, we pride ourselves on working closely with our supporters and fundraisers by allowing them to make a difference in their local breast care service. This project is an excellent example of this. We rely on our fundraisers, and it's important they have a real say in how the funds are used."