Abstract
The Be Clear on Cancer (BCoC) campaigns have run in England since 2010. They aim to raise awareness of possible cancer symptoms, encouraging people to consult a general practice with these symptoms. Our study provides an overview of the impact of 11 national campaigns, for bowel, lung, bladder and kidney, breast and oesophago-gastric cancers. We synthesised existing results for each campaign covering seven clinical metrics across the patient pathway from primary care attendances to one-year net survival. For each metric, “before” and “after” periods were compared to assess change potentially related to the campaign. Results show that primary care attendances for campaign-related symptoms increased for 9 of 10 campaigns and relevant urgent referrals for suspected cancer increased above general trends for 9 of 11 campaigns. Diagnostic tests increased for 6 of 11 campaigns. For 7 of 11 campaigns, there were increases in cancer diagnoses resulting from an urgent referral for suspected cancer. There were sustained periods where more cancers were diagnosed than expected for 8 of 10 campaigns, with higher than expected proportions diagnosed at an early stage for sustained periods for 4 of 10 campaigns. There was no impact on survival. In summary, there is evidence that the BCoC campaigns impact help-seeking by patients and referral patterns by general practitioners, with some impact on diagnosis (incidence and stage). There was no clear evidence of impact on survival.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1172-1182 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | International Journal of Cancer |
Volume | 148 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work uses data that has been provided by patients and collected by the NHS as part of their care and support. The data are collated, maintained and quality assured by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, which is part of Public Health England (PHE). Some data used for this evaluation was sourced from NHS Digital, NHS England, Mayden or IQVIA. We thank the many other colleagues who have, over the years since the campaigns started, contributed to the evaluation of the Be Clear on Cancer campaigns, in terms of analysis or project management from NCRAS and Cancer Research UK. We also thank a number of clinicians for their clinical expertise and advice with regard to the evaluation. The Be Clear on Cancer programme is led by PHE, working in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and Cancer Research UK. Campaigns are run by the PHE marketing team and are overseen by the Be Clear on Cancer Steering Group.
Keywords
- Be Clear on Cancer
- cancer
- mass media campaign