The Scottish Government has launched a “Find my Nearest” service that enables women to locate their closest breast screening centre through SMS.

A shortcode and keyword call to action is being included on advertising, online content and leaflets by the Scottish Government, and those who text in will receive a reply message with a telephone number for their nearest screening centre, enabling them to make an appointment for a regular screening if they have missed one in the last three years.

The Scottish Breast Screening Programme splits the country into six different regions, so postcodes sent in via text are received by the platform, provided by Incentivated, and cross-checked against the Scottish Governments database. Each area uses unique reply messages, and the platform enables organisers to monitor response rates in real-time.

“Creating awareness of the importance of the role of breast screening is hugely important to ensure we keep increasing the numbers of women that detect breast cancer at the earliest stage,” said Gail Lyall, senior marketing manager for the Scottish Government. “The audience we are targeting are hard to engage, so when we have their attention to act, it is imperative we make things as easy as possible for them. SMS allows us to provide a quicker customer journey from call to action to making that important appointment.”

“Our aim at Incentivated is to create the best customer experience possible, providing a service that is almost invisible because it is simple and works,” said Jonathan Bass, managing director for Incentivated. “Our SMS service has provided great benefit to previous Scottish Government campaigns, and we are thrilled to provide the same level of care and consideration to such an important cause.”