Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which occurs every October, is an important opportunity to talk about breast cancer, share information and help people feel more confident about knowing the signs and accessing important early screening.
But we want to know what you think. We’re bringing back our nationwide survey to understand people’s experiences, opinions and awareness of breast cancer screening, detection and prevention.
Whether you’ve experienced breast cancer yourself, know someone who has, have attended a mammogram or have never been eligible for routine screening, we want to hear from you.
Why are we running the survey?
Breast cancer remains the most common cancer in the UK, and early detection can make a massive difference.
One of our key campaigning priorities for the UK Government is extending access to routine breast screening. We are campaigning for routine NHS breast screening to start at 40, with annual mammograms, and want to understand what people across the UK think about the current approach.
Our survey asks whether people think routine screening should start at 40, what age they believe screening should begin, and whether they think earlier screening could help save lives.
But our campaign is about more than screening age. We’re also asking about people’s experiences of attending mammograms, what can prevent people from going to screening appointments, how confident people feel about checking their breasts or chest, and how much they know about breast cancer symptoms and secondary breast cancer.
Your experience can help shape the conversation
We know that everyone’s experience of breast cancer is different. For some, screening may be a routine part of life. For others, anxiety, previous experiences, work and family commitments or simply not knowing what to expect can make attending an appointment more difficult.
Understanding these experiences is very important. By hearing directly from you, we can build a clearer picture of where awareness and access could be improved and use these insights to support our campaigning for change.
And as a thank you for taking part, one lucky survey participant will be selected to win a pair of Shokz OpenRun sport headphones.
Have your say here and be in with a chance of winning some new headphones!
The survey is open to everyone across the UK until midnight 13th September 2026, regardless of gender and whether or not you have personal experience of breast cancer.
It only takes a few minutes to share your views, and every response will help us understand what people know, think and experience when it comes to breast cancer awareness and screening.