NHS now saying stuff is free.

"A) it isn’t free. My NHS contributions have paid for this many times over."

Yes it is.

No, they haven't.

NHSMail is encrypted but appointments have to be sent to people outside that
network who use regular Email apps. The post has been used as the most secure method of delivering this type information for decades. Until recently it was a reliable service but delays are now so common that alternatives are having to be sought.

Systems like apps are being brought in to replace the post but they are difficult to roll out because many people are not capable of using them. If you don't have a computer or a smartphone, or do not understand the complexities of modern technology the NHS still has to communicate with you. Remember around 5% of the population do not use the internet at all.

Quite right OP. Standard NHS screening appointments are not “free”. We fund them .

Not exactly. They do area by area so you will be called after your 50th birthday next time they are doing your area. Often in a supermarket car park.

I guess it’s because people are scared of being charged eg like dentists and eye tests, so aren’t going. It’s reassure ce that there’s no charge to the individual at the point of delivery.

I had my first one within a month of turning 50. The appointment was in a lorry parked at a supermarket in walking distance from my house, so it seems I was lucky.

I had a phone call recently to be told they’re not doing breast exams anymore so no point attending the Family History Clinic. I get annual mammograms but to be checked annually too was a reassurance I can now no longer have.

I was speaking to another service recently about how I’d not received a follow up in the past due to errors and was told “that’s just the NHS”.

It might be free at the point of access but it’s not free of stress. The patient-centred approach seems to have gone out the window.

do they send them out as soon as you hit 50?

Also bear in mind that the Centre far from you will be closer to someone else.

This.

Is the NHS using a private company to supply this service in this case?

If it's at a private scanning centre then I think it's important that they reiterate that it will be free on the day.

We pay for it, a shit tonne of money a lot of which they waste. Other countries medical services are irrelevant, we're entitled to decent health care
Haha, many are not paying a penny towards it and many who pay a massive amount hardly use it. We ARE getting a very decent health care, only the Brits think they don't.

Making a fuss over the use of one word and moaning because a preventive measure is not available right next to them is massively disproportionate.

Using your analogy, it's paying £5 for a £50 steak and expecting a £100 one!

The core problem is a lot of people - some who identify as being smart - equate "free" with "worthless".

A distinction that a previous boss drilled into sales staff by insisting that when they completed a sale (which was for a software system with training) rather than putting the training down as "free" they put it down as "£5,000" with a "£5,000" discount on the contract.

All of a sudden businesses started allowing their staff to attend the training with a 200% reduction in support costs.

Nothing is free. Ever.

Ffs. Maybe research told them that some women (who weren't in the know) didn't realiae they were free at the point of provision. I would bet money that I know who you will be voting for in the next election.

just phone em and ask where they do them and choose one near you to suit. I can even do this via the NHS ap in my area

We all pay taxes etc in other countries
too but still have to pay to see a doctor.

It IS free.

All health systems are so different I can understand people being unsure whether treatment is free at the point of use. In a lot of countries you pay at least something for certain scans and claim back. Others you must pay.

Some NHS treatment isn’t entirely free - dental one of the main ones.

even if you are British it might be a bit confusing. Sometimes to get waiting lists down the NHS uses private hospitals so if you just google that tit may not be obvious it is free.

As regard tax for me as an individual the NHS is in a sense free. I earn and pay tax and NI but not consistently due to illness. I pay VAT. I will never be able to pay enough tax to cover my cost to thevNHS for the complex treatment I’ve had, never mind the everyday scans, eye tests etc.

i could at a pinch add in time I missed with my parents both doctors often doing overtime with a trip to the cinema interrupted and me sitting in the car while they saw a patient.

Can you phone the breast screening service and ask for an appointment more local to you? There are 2 hospitals in my region, one 15 minutes away and the other an hour away. They often send me appointments for ultrasounds in hospital 2 and if I phone I can change them to hospital 1,

Some travel vaccinations are available on the NHS others are not.

see here for details:

https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/travel-vaccinations/

They are trying to encourage people to go to breast screening. It is free to you at the point of service.

No, MPs said NHS should and Palantir said they would not back out because they're committed to the contract and the results their involvement have created.

oh dear god. Yes you are being sooooo unreasonable. I don't think there is any harm in reminding people that they will not need to pay for the mammogram in addition to their taxes.

Your whinging about having to go to a hospital that isn't local to you is so....... grrrrrrr........ I don't even have the words. Do you understand that having a centre for the scans on every street corner comes at a price & that maybe centralising them means that it can continue to be free?? (for clarity, free as in doesn't cost any more that you already pay in taxes). Or is this not about making best use of NHS money but making sure that you as an individual isn't inconvenienced. 😭

You're right to be concerned about the risk of the NHS being privatised & it will be if people insist on having home visits for mammograms or if Trumps-mini-me gets his way. If the latter, then you will absolutely have to re-mortgage your house for a mammogram if they haven't been banned by the misogynists

This place is in such an obscure location, wedged between a chicken shop and a Tesco Metro down an alley way that they send you a link which takes you to an actual photo of the doorway! I used to have to walk 5 mins to my health centre for my blood tests, i now have to pencil out a morning, it must be really difficult if you have to organise childcare or book a chunk of time off work.

This link from Feb says 63% of women attended their first screening in 24/25, which is a 10-year high. The woman interviewed specifically says it’s free, so maybe some people thought it wasn’t free (like how most people have to pay for NHS dental checkup) and that was a barrier to them attending their mammogram.

Even if it’s not technically free because we pay for it in other ways, I’m not sure that matters in the wording of a letter. If you asked the council about bin collections, I don’t know if they’d say “you don’t have to pay separately for this service but it’s not technically free because you’ve paid for it in tax” they would probably just say there’s no charge, it’s free.

Can’t comment on the inaccessible location though, that sounds really annoying.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2026/02/women-attending-first-nhs-mammogram-hits-10-year-high-as-thousands-more-cancers-found/

Every missed appointment costs the NHS money so they’re probably highlighting its free so people attend