A national nine-week advertising campaign is being staged by the Department of Health, starting on Monday 30 January, to improve awareness and the early diagnosis of bowel cancer.
The campaign follows pilot projects at the beginning of 2011 in the South West and East Anglia, which saw a marked increase in the numbers of people with potential symptoms who went to see their doctors.
Although survival rates are rising in cancer care, the UK is still lagging behind many other industrialised countries. One of the main factors is late discovery, with nearly a quarter of cancer diagnosis only made as a result of an emergency admission, when the disease might be more advanced.
Early diagnosis is not only likely to save lives; it is also likely to save money, with patients requiring less-intense treatment and being better able to recapture quality of life afterwards.
Encouraging people to come forward earlier if they have the potential symptoms of cancer is a key strand in the NHS ambition of saving 5,000 lives a year by 2014/15.
The awareness campaign is publicising bowel cancer signs and symptoms through the media, using regional TV, print, online and radio to target those at high risk and who might otherwise not come forward early.
The ads encourage people to make an appointment with their GP if they had either 'loose poo or blood in their poo' for three weeks.
Results from the regional pilots showed:
· A 48 per cent increase in the number of people who visited their GPs with symptoms
· A 32 per cent increase in urgent referrals to hospitals over a six-month period, which included the campaign
· High levels of campaign recognition, with 75% of the public in the South West and the East of England saying they had seen the advertising
· Overwhelming support for the campaign – 96 per cent of the public and 89 per cent of GPs believed it was important
Advertising will again feature real GPs encouraging patients to talk to them if they have noticed changes in their faeces for the last three weeks.