One in seven women will get breast cancer. Most of us are not sure what we are feeling for
What happened
On 5 October 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care announced a new three-year partnership with the charity Breast Cancer Now. The aim is simple. Help more women spot a change in their breasts early, and help them know what to do next. The announcement came with some uncomfortable numbers. Nearly a third of women who check their breasts regularly - 29% - said they were not confident they would recognise a change. Among women who check less often than once a month, just over one in ten (11%) said the reason was that they did not know what to look for. It is not only about checking, either. One in five UK adults (20%) said they did not feel confident finding breast cancer information they could trust. The partnership has three jobs over the next three years: - make trusted breast health information easy to find - help women build a habit of checking, know what a change feels like, and know when to ask a GP - support women after treatment, with clear information about signs that cancer may have come back, and about staying well Healthcare professionals will also get training and practical toolkits so they can give better guidance to people who have finished treatment. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so the timing is deliberate.
Why this matters
In the UK, one in seven women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their life. Around 11,500 women die from it every year. That makes it one of those conditions almost every family brushes against. A mother, an aunt, a neighbour, a colleague. Here is the part that makes early checking worth the two minutes it takes. If breast cancer is found at stage 1, nearly 100% of people are still alive five years later. If it is found at stage 4, that figure is 32%. Same disease. Very different odds. The difference is mostly time. Baroness Merron, Minister for Women's Health and Maternity, put it plainly: "Early diagnosis is vital for each individual's chances of survival... The sooner breast cancer is diagnosed, the better the chances of successful treatment." Rachel Franklin, Deputy Chief Executive at Breast Cancer Now, gave the same figures: "Early detection is vital, with almost 100% of people diagnosed at stage 1 surviving for five years or more, compared with just 32% at stage 4." So the gap the partnership is trying to close is not really a gap in willingness. Plenty of women are already checking. The gap is confidence. People are doing the right thing and then not trusting what their own hands are telling them.
What the evidence actually says
A few things are worth being clear about, because breast cancer is a subject where half-remembered advice spreads fast. There is no single correct way to check. The NHS does not ask you to follow a set routine on a set day. The advice is to get to know how your breasts normally look and feel, so that a change stands out to you. A change does not mean a lump and nothing else. Changes worth mentioning to a GP include a lump or thickening, a change in size or shape, skin that puckers or dimples, a nipple that turns inward, a rash or crusting around the nipple, discharge that is new, or pain that does not go away. Most changes are not cancer. Breasts change with periods, pregnancy, weight and age. Lumpy, tender breasts before a period are very common. The point of checking is not to frighten yourself. It is to notice what is new for you. Checking is not a replacement for screening. In England, women aged 50 to 71 are invited for routine breast screening roughly every three years. Checking yourself and attending screening do different jobs, and you need both. And the figures above are survival statistics for groups of people, not predictions for one person. They tell you that finding it early helps a great deal. They do not tell any individual what will happen to them.
Qurexa perspective
We are a pharmacy delivery service, not a cancer charity, and we have no part in this partnership. But one line in the announcement is squarely in our world: supporting women after treatment. Breast cancer treatment often does not end when the hospital appointments stop. Many women are prescribed hormone therapy, such as tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor, to take every day for five years or longer. Those medicines meaningfully reduce the chance of the cancer returning - but only if they are actually taken. Five years is a long time. People move house, change GP, run out on a Friday, or simply get tired of the side effects. Repeat prescriptions are one of the most common things to let slip, and it rarely looks like a decision. It looks like a busy week. That is the bit we can help with. If you or someone you care for is on long-term medication after treatment, a reliable delivery and a reminder can take one more thing off the list. If you are struggling with side effects, speak to your pharmacist or oncology team before you stop - there are often options. If a different arrangement suits you better, use it. The medicine working matters far more than who hands it over.
Practical advice
Four things you can do this month: 1. Learn your normal. Look and feel, in the shower or lying down, whatever is easiest. Cover the whole breast, up into the armpit and up to the collarbone. There is no scoring system. You are only building a sense of what usual feels like for you. 2. Write it down if you find something. The date you noticed it, where it is, and whether it has changed. GP appointments are short and memory is unreliable under stress. 3. Book the appointment anyway. Do not wait for your next period, or for a lump to grow, or for it to be more convenient. If it turns out to be nothing, you have lost twenty minutes. Say clearly: "I have noticed a change in my breast." 4. Go when you are invited for screening. If you are 50 to 71 in England and your invitation went astray, contact your local breast screening service. Men can get breast cancer too. It is far less common - but the same rule applies. A new lump or change in the chest area is worth a GP appointment. If you want information you can trust, start with the NHS website and Breast Cancer Now rather than social media.
What to know
One in seven UK women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Around 11,500 die from it each year. Found at stage 1, nearly 100% survive five years or more; found at stage 4, that falls to 32%. The new three-year partnership between the Department of Health and Social Care and Breast Cancer Now is aimed at a specific problem: 29% of women who check regularly are not confident they would recognise a change, and 20% of UK adults are not confident finding information they trust. There is no correct technique. Know your normal, and tell a GP about anything new - a lump, a change in shape, puckered skin, an inverted nipple, a rash, new discharge or lasting pain. Most changes are not cancer. Checking is not a substitute for screening. Sources: Department of Health and Social Care, "Government joins forces with Breast Cancer Now", 5 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-joins-forces-with-breast-cancer-now ; Breast Cancer Now, charity homepage and Breast Cancer Awareness Month information, accessed 5 October 2026, https://breastcancernow.org/ ; NHS, "Breast cancer in women", accessed 5 October 2026, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/breast-cancer-in-women/ This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.
Related articles
Six hours, not never: the ICU filter notice the MHRA issued today
The UK's medicines and devices regulator has issued a new safety notice to hospitals, and it is about timing. On 13 October 2026 the Medicines and Healthcare p…
Eight pages to a minister: what the data guardian says trust is worth
On 12 October 2026, the government published a letter about who should be trusted with NHS patient data. It was written by Dr Nicola Byrne, the National Data G…
Update: the tests came back, and it was not plague
This is a follow-up to a story we covered on 5 October, when nearly 200 people were being monitored after the death of a laboratory worker in Siberia. There has…