Hundreds more to take up cancer screening offer
Date of release: 2 November 2023
A novel approach to increasing uptake of cancer screening has helped encourage hundreds of people across Wolverhampton to attend appointments.
Historically, the city has seen lower uptake for bowel, breast and cervical cancer screening programmes compared to both the regional and national average.
So a pilot initiative was launched over a 16-week period by the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Public Health Team in partnership with the NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Total Health Primary Care Network.
The pilot enabled GP practices to proactively contact people who hadn’t attended bowel, cervical or breast screening to speak with them about the benefits of the process and respond to any anxieties, questions, perceived barriers or fears people might have.
Public Health staff received training from experts from the respective cancer screening programmes so they felt equipped to hold a quality conversation with their patients. As a result, nearly 1,000 people agreed to be referred back into cancer screening programmes – with nearly 300 completing their full screening.
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing, said: “NHS cancer screening programmes can help to diagnose the disease or the risk of it earlier and improve the likelihood of successful treatment.
“Improving cancer screening is key to improving life expectancy in Wolverhampton and this pilot project proved immensely successful.
“More than 2,000 now have a better understanding of the importance of cancer screening and are able to talk through some of their questions and concerns with medical professionals.
“We are now encouraging the wider Primary Care system to learn from this pilot and implement similar a similar process whereby they talk directly to patients and encourage screening uptake.”
Dr Salma Reehana, Wolverhampton GP and Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the NHS Black Country ICB, said: “It’s really important to attend screening when you are invited. It helps pick up cancers even before you notice symptoms.
“If you experience any symptoms such as unexplained lumps, unexplained bleeding and or pain, blood in your urine, or a cough that lasts for three weeks or more, however, please see your GP, who may refer you for tests to rule out cancer. Finding cancer early makes it more treatable.”
For more information on cancer screening, please visit NHS England - Screening and earlier diagnosis
Anyone who recently missed any screening invitation should contact their GP to book a cervical screening appointment, call 01384 244177 to book a breast screening appointment, call their GP or 0800 707 6060 to get a bowel screening test kit.
