Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT)
Find out more about GIRFT and its work
Overview
The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) breast surgery programme looks at the delivery of breast surgery services across England, including benign and malignant breast surgery, oncoplastic surgery and breast reconstruction. Its work provides breast teams with data and resources to review pathways, understand variation and identify opportunities to improve services and patient care.
The first national GIRFT report for breast surgery was published in 2021, following a review of breast surgery activity and services across England. GIRFT has continued to work with breast services since its publication, with further data, pathway resources and improvement work supporting teams nationally.
The 2026 Breast Surgery GIRFT Programme Follow-up Report provides an updated review of breast surgery services and progress since the original report, as well as identifying areas where further improvement can be made.
This page brings together the latest GIRFT reports, data and resources relevant to breast surgery teams.
Breast Surgery GIRFT Programme Follow-up Report 2026
Published in April 2026, the Breast surgery GIRFT Programme Follow-up Report provides an updated national review of breast surgery services in England. It follows the 2021 national specialty report and considers how services have developed since its publication.
The report uses national data alongside information from reviews undertaken with all 20 Cancer Alliances to examine progress against earlier GIRFT recommendations and consider the current challenges facing breast services. It covers areas including referrals, surgical activity, workforce, pathways, reconstruction, length of stay, follow-up and the quality of clinical data.
Access the report below.
download_for_offline Breast Surgery GIRFT Programme Follow-up ReportGIRFT Resources
Latest review of progress, variation and opportunities across breast surgery services in England.
Guidance on access to surgery published in September 2026.
Guidance on access to surgery published in September 2026.
This webinar took place on 1 October 2026 and explored how services are improving breast surgery pathology turnaround times, focusing on innovations and approaches that are helping to reduce reduce variation and support timely diagnosis for patients.
The GIRFT Further Faster breast reconstruction handbook is designed to provide best practice for improving access to breast reconstruction services.
Published in October 2025.
Coding guidance produced by GIRFT for breast conservation and for
mastectomy +/- reconstruction, designed for both surgeons and coders to improve data capture.
Coding guidance produced by GIRFT for breast conserving surgery, designed for surgeons and coders to help improve data capture.
The GIRFT Best Practice Timed Pathway for breast looks at how the one-stop clinic can be used effectively, including pathways for patients who are at low risk of having breast cancer.
A Share and Learn event was held in October 2023 to explore the pathway and examples of its implementation within breast services. The webinar and accompanying presentations are available below.
The national GIRFT report for breast surgery was published in September 2021 following the GIRFT review of breast surgery services across England. It brought together data on breast surgery activity and made recommendations across a range of areas of service delivery.
This GIRFT handbook is designed to help cancer alliances and organisations delivering breast cancer care to effectively implement best practice.
Data and benchmarking
GIRFT data gives breast teams an opportunity to review activity across their service, compare their position with other NHS organisations and investigate areas of variation.
The breast surgery dataset provides a broad view of breast surgery activity, incorporating benign and malignant surgery, breast conservation, oncoplastic procedures and reconstruction.
GIRFT data on the NHS Model Health System
Breast teams can use the data to:
- Review activity and patterns of care across their service.
- Compare local data with other organisations and national benchmarks.
- Identify areas of variation that may benefit from further investigation.
- Support discussions about pathways, capacity and service improvement.
- Monitor areas of performance over time.
- Identify examples of good practice that can be shared within and between breast services.
Accessing the data
NHS staff can access the Model Health System online. Users can sign in with their NHS account or register for access if required.
NCIP (National Consultant Information Programme)
The National Consultant Information Programme (NCIP) is a GIRFT programme that gives consultant surgeons access to data about their NHS surgical activity and outcomes in addition to wider GIRFT data.
NCIP can provide useful information to support consultant breast surgeons, including:
- Reflection on clinical practice and outcomes.
- Quality improvement and clinical governance.
- Appraisal and revalidation.
- Audit and research.
- Discussion of variation within breast services.
Breast Surgery data available through NCIP
Breast surgery data is currently organised across the following procedure dashboards:
- Axillary procedures without a breast procedure.
- Breast conservation, including oncoplastic breast conservation.
- Delayed reconstruction.
- Gender-affirming surgery.
- Mastectomy with reconstruction.
- Mastectomy without reconstruction.
- Procedures that are not routinely funded.
- Subsequent and revision breast procedures.
Accessing NCIP
Existing users can log in through the NCIP portal. Consultants requiring access can contact the NCIP team at England.NCIP@nhs.net to request activation.
Further information
You can find more information about the Getting it Right First Time breast surgery programme website.
