Raising awareness and enabling earlier diagnosis

We will work with communities to raise awareness of cancer and promote cancer screening.

Sheffield is a very diverse city and there is a network of community development work already established through the Local Authority and voluntary sector organisations that are embedded within different communities across the city. In 2016/17 we will use these to engage with communities around cancer to start to raise cancer awareness and promote cancer screening programmes.

Cancer Screening Programmes are commissioned by NHSE. There is already a local improvement plan for Sheffield and a number of teams responsible for screening promotion work for each programme (Breast, Bowel and Cervical). In 2016/17 working through the new Sheffield Cancer Advisory Group we will work with the lead commissioners to strengthen the local improvement plan to reduce the variation in screening uptake.  This will include ensuring cancer screening is discussed by our Macmillan GP during his planned series of GP practice visits in 2016/17, as well as exploring other opportunities to promote screening through primary care, including work with partners such as Cancer Research UK.

We will support GPs to refer people suspected of having cancer as early as possible.

During 2015 the National Council for Clinical Excellence, NICE published new guidelines for Suspected Cancer: recognition and referral.  Our plan for 2016/17 is to work with GPs in primary care and hospital services to implement the new guidelines; this will mean new referral forms, education and support for GPs and in some cases new pathways of care where patients are referred directly for diagnostic tests.

• Raising awareness and enabling earlier diagnosis
• Improving treatment and care
• Supporting those living with and beyond cancer

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