A CANCER screening strategy is being launched today in Merseyside to reduce the amount of people dying from the disease in the region.
The plan, to be launched at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington this morning by the Government’s cancer tsar Professor Mike Richards, aims to reduce the inequalities existing within communities by promoting screening in Merseyside and Cheshire.
Its function is to:
Increase awareness so people recognise and respond to warning signs of serious illness such as passing blood, coughing blood or weight loss;
Ensuring more people take part in effective screening programmes such as breast and bowel screening.
To prioritise female breast, lung, bladder, bowel, skin and cervical cancer.
The document includes plans to lobby for legislation to stop under 18s using sun beds, and to alert people to risk factors such as bad diet, smoking and a family history of disease.
Health officials hope the strategy will help the region meet a national cancer target to reduce mortality rates in people under 75 by at least 20% by 2010, compared with the position in 1997.
More than 70 people in Merseyside and Cheshire have had cancer detected and treated thanks to the screening programme introduced in September 2006, but this needs to increase to meet the target.
Early detection also increases the chances of patients being diagnosed and treated within 18 weeks, a new Government target to be introduced in 2009.
Prof Richards, national cancer director at the Department of Health, said: “I fully support the strategy and I think it is extremely important to concentrate on the whole spectrum from prevention to treatment.
“Patients are far more likely to survive if cancer is caught early.”
The plan is supported by Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Network, ChaMPs Public Health Network and Cheshire and Merseyside Sexual Health Network.
Co-author of the document, entitled Reducing Health Inequalities Through Improved Early Detection and Prevention Of Cancer, Dr Daniel Seddon said: “Cancer rates and people surviving it in our area get better each year, but we are still lagging behind the rest of England, and some other countries.
“I believe we can be world class in cancer prevention and treatment, and this strategy can make a big difference.
“Embarrassment, a lack of knowledge and a fear of getting bad news keeps too many people out of the doctor’s surgery when cancer is at its most treatable and survivable.
“There is a common assumption that cancer presents itself very dramatically but often the process is gradual with people dismissing what are actually serious symptoms as something that will go away.
“For example, anyone coughing blood, or passing blood when they go to the toilet, should see their doctor within a week.”
He added improved survival rates from current NHS screening programmes showed the powerful effect on health of catching cancer early and he also stressed that deaths and cases of cancer were falling year on year.
Falls in lung cancer are particularly big with Cheshire and Merseyside’s rates falling faster than elsewhere.
“This good news is a tribute to the health professionals and patients’ groups who have made it happen, but the fact is there are still stark inequalities between communities,” said Dr Seddon.
lizawilliams
