Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening

An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a potentially life threatening condition, with the highest risk is for males over the age of 65. We use the information we hold to identify people at risk, who are invited to have a screening for the condition. This helps identify cases early, before they cause a problem.

Learn more about abdominal aortic aneurysm at NHS.UK

The AAA screening programme

In England, screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm (also known as AAA) is offered to men during the year they turn 65. The screening consists of a painless, non-invasive ultrasound scan.

Men aged 65 or over are most at risk of AAAs. Screening can help spot a swelling in the aorta early on when it can be treated.

Patients can find information about AAA screening on the NHS.UK website.

Screening invitations

At NHS Digital, we use data we hold in our National Health Applications and Infrastructure Services (NHAIS) system to find all the people who are eligible for screening each year. We add the details of these people to our Population Index (PI) database.

We then use our message handling service to pass this information to the external company who will invite people for their screening.

If there are any errors, we have an internal support team to resolve them.

Information is kept up to date every day, and this makes sure that screening invitations get to the right people.

Contact details

National Helpdesk Exeter
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0300 303 4034

Last edited: 5 December 2023 10:49 am