Cancer screening is one of five priority areas we are focusing on to improve the health and wellbeing of people across our area.
Cancer accounts for:
- 32% of all deaths in our area
- 15–21% of the gap in life expectancy between our communities
- £155 million in planned hospital care costs.
We want to reduce avoidable emergency hospital visits and improve people’s experience of cancer care. To do this, we will build stronger links between:
- GP practices
- community services
- specialist cancer teams
This will help people to get the right care at the right time.
Cancer screening
Screening is one of the most powerful tools we have to detect cancer early.
Differences in the way cancer screening is offered, delays in diagnosis, and gaps in support after treatment can mean that some people’s cancer goes undetected until they become unwell suddenly and need emergency care.
We want to change this, making it easier for cancer to be prevented and detected, improving treatment and care and giving patients and carers the right support throughout their cancer journey.
We will work to increase the number of people who take up cancer screening. This includes:
- making screening easier to access
- reducing differences between communities
- using approaches that are proven to work
- helping people understand why screening matters.
To improve the take-up of cancer screening, we will:
- share clear information about screening
- work with local communities to understand barriers
- use successful local projects and expand them
- make sure people are invited and reminded in ways that suit them.