The Detect Cancer Early Programme is an ambitious programme of work to improve survival for people with cancer in Scotland to amongst the best in other European countries by diagnosing and treating the disease at an earlier stage.
A draft implementation plan was launched in August for stakeholder engagement - very positive feedback was received from a wide spectrum of clinicians across the professions in public health, primary, secondary and tertiary care, from members of the public and from cancer charities. This has informed a final Implementation Plan along with the first phase of the social marketing campaigning, a key component of the overall programme.
The programme’s key aim is:
Overall 5 year survival for people in Scotland diagnosed with cancer will improve.
The following objectives will contribute to the aim of the programme:
- To increase the proportion of people with stage 1 disease at diagnosis (as a proxy indicator of survival outcome) and to use performance against a HEAT Target as a lever for whole systems approach to improvement
- To improve informed consent and participation in national cancer screening programmes to help detect cancer earlier and improve survival rates
- To raise the public’s awareness of the national cancer screening programmes and also the early signs and symptoms of cancer to encourage them to seek help earlier
- To work with GPs to promote referral or investigation at the earliest reasonable opportunity for patients who may be showing a suspicion of cancer whilst making the most efficient use of NHS resources and avoiding adverse impact on access
- To ensure there is sufficient capacity in the screening programmes to meet the expected increase in those choosing to take part
- To ensure that imaging, diagnostic departments and treatment centres are prepared for an increase in the number of patients with early disease requiring treatment
- To strengthen data collection and performance reporting within NHSScotland to ensure progress continues to be made on improving cancer diagnosis, treatment, referral and survival.
- To facilitate further evaluation of the impact of public awareness campaigns on the stage of cancer at presentation and to contribute to research that establishes evidence for the link between late presentation and survival deficit
A representative Programme Board and supporting subgroups are now established and Executive Leads are in place in each NHS Board. A round of NHS Board visits has commenced to introduce the programme and a comprehensive information pack has been produced for each NHS Board. The insight gathering and research phases for the first of the social marketing campaigns is complete and the production of the preferred creative concept for the media campaigns is underway.
The Scottish Cancer Taskforce has endorsed a programme of work to revisit the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer. This was last undertaken in 2007 but there has been considerable primary care research published reported since they were first introduced nearly 10 years ago and much recent work on positive predictive values and threshold for referring. This also fits with the Quality Strategy ambitions and effective delivery.
This is an important priority area for Scottish Government Health Directorates policy aiming to improve outcomes for those Scots diagnosed with cancer. The Taskforce will monitor closely the impact of the programme to ensure that the overall programme is fully evaluated well in advance of official publication of survival outcomes.
Minutes
Once approved by the Programme Board, minutes are made available online below.
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