Bowel cancer screening campaign: England
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Want and overview of the campaign?
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and Public Health England (PHE) carred out a regional Be Clear on Cancer campaign across the North West of England to increase participation of 60-74 year olds in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. The pilot campaign ran from 9th January to 2nd April 2017, with the aim of raising awareness and uptake of bowel cancer screening amongst the eligible population.
This pilot has now finished, however you can still find the campaign information on this page, including a briefing sheet designed to provide an overview of the activity and support key groups during the campaign. This content was intended for health care professionals and those who work in the community promoting cancer information.
View the campaign announcement
View the campaign overview briefing sheet
Download the communications toolkit
A range of marketing materials were produced for this campaign, including posters and leaflets. Now the campaign is complete, these materials have been removed.
Be Clear on Cancer aims to achieve earlier diagnosis of cancer by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms. The campaigns encourage people with relevant symptoms to see their GP without delay.
A previous national Be Clear on Cancer campaign in 2012 aimed to raise awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer, hhowever this was the first bowel cancer screening awareness campaign. The North West campaign was based on CRUK’s three pilot campaigns, in London (2014), Wales (2015) and England (2015-16). The Department of Health (DH) helped to fund CRUK’s first pilot and has supported the Wales and England projects.
PHE worked in partnership with CRUK on this campaign in support of the specific recommendation from the Independent Cancer Taskforce strategy “Achieving World Class Outcomes: A Strategy for England 2015 to 2020” for PHE to “explore the use of the Be Clear on Cancer brand to improve uptake of screening programmes, particularly among disadvantaged groups”. If the pilot shows promising results, the long-term ambition of this partnership is for PHE to roll the campaign into their regular programme of Be Clear on Cancer work.
CRUK led, funded and is evaluating this regional pilot however PHE, DH and NHS England colleagues provided consultancy, support with the engagement of stakeholders, and produced some campaign materials.
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK[1], and trials show that bowel cancer screening can reduce deaths from the disease by 15% in the target population (60-74 year olds).[2]
However, there is low uptake of bowel cancer screening across England (58% in 2014). In some areas, particularly the North West, uptake is as low as 40%.[3]
These are some of the reasons why the North West was chosen as the pilot site for this campaign:
Evidence indicates that fear of the test outcome, being asymptomatic, having a low perceived risk of bowel cancer and concerns about the practicalities and cleanliness of the screening test can act as barriers to participation.[4]
Therefore, this Be Clear on Cancer campaign aims to improve outcomes for people in the North West by increasing awareness of the Bowel Screening Programme and encouraging greater uptake of the screening test (specifically, gFOBT).
The key message for the public was:
‘This little kit could save your life’.
Other key messages include:
The campaign run from 9th January to 2nd April 2017. An advertising campaign including TV, posters at bus stops, adverts in newspapers and on Facebook run for 12 weeks from 9th January to 2nd April 2017.
Advertising ran for the full campaign period, whilst direct mail ran alongside advertising from 20th February to 2nd April only. Direct mail consisted of two versions:
The mailings arrived two-three days following an NHS bowel screening test kit. Previously screened invitees will not be targeted with the CRUK direct mailing.
Advertising and direct mail ran across the North West of England (Granada TV region). This included Lancashire, South Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, however some CCG areas acted as control areas for direct mail, and therefore didn’t receive the activity. This will enable us to compare the impact of advertising on its own and advertising plus direct mail. Previously screened invitees were not targeted with the CRUK direct mailing.
The campaign was aimed at 55-74 year olds from lower socioeconomic groups, with a skew towards men. This targeting allowed the campaign to reach both those currently eligible and soon to be eligible for screening, and to focus advertising on those least likely to participate.[1]
The advertising focussed on targeting lower socioeconomic groups, particularly men, since we know that deprived men are least likely to participate in bowel cancer screening.
While Be Clear on Cancer campaigns have run in England since 2010, this is the first time activity was used to support one of the national cancer screening programmes. Previous Be Clear on Cancer symptom-focused campaigns have shown positive changes in attitudes and behaviours related to recognising and acting on the signs of cancer, including increasing awareness of bowel cancer symptoms.
The activities for this campaign are based on the results from pilot campaigns on bowel cancer screening which were carried out by CRUK:
Wales pilot (Feb – Mar 2015)
A personalised CRUK endorsement letter was found to:
A letter including a pack (containing latex-free gloves) was found to:
London pilot (Feb – Mar 2014)
A pack (containing gloves and poo catchers) and endorsement flyer achieved a greater impact when supported with advertising:
As with all Be Clear on Cancer campaigns, evaluation metrics for the campaign have been developed in consultation with a range of experts. These include:
Monitoring calls to the Bowel Cancer Screening Helpline, tracking what prompted calls The impact of the campaign on bowel cancer screening uptake will be analysed across a range of metrics, including:
The campaign’s impact on services will also be analysed:
Some cancer outcomes data will also be analysed:
Be Clear on Cancer is a cancer awareness campaign led by Public Health England, working in partnership with the Department of Health and NHS England. This page contains links to documents that we hope you find useful. Please note however that the views or opinions expressed within those links are not necessarily those of Cancer Research UK.
Bowel cancer screening campaign: England
Research & References of Bowel cancer screening campaign: England|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
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