Evidence based screening programmes can help doctors find early signs of cancer, which makes treatment simpler and more likely to be effective.
We called on governments across the UK to:
Screen at least three million more people over the next five years through extending the age range of invitations to breast and bowel screening to match expert recommended guidelines.
Reduce the variation in screening across the UK.
Reach out to people eligible for screening who weren't taking part.
Provide the best possible screening programmes through funding, staffing and measuring success.
In 2008, our campaigners emailed their political representatives across the UK and lobbied their MPs in Westminster on screening uptake across the UK. That same year, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Department of Health, Ann Keen, committed to our call to screen 3 million more people over the next five years by extending the age ranges for both breast and bowel cancer screening.
In Wales, the Health Minister also announced full details of the Welsh bowel screening roll-out.
In 2018, we launched our Shoulder to Shoulder Against Cancer campaign in the NHS’s 70th birthday year to ask the UK Government to train and employ more staff to diagnose and treat cancer early.
We campaigned for an increase of early cancer diagnosis through more government funding. In 2015, the Government confirmed the NHS would have up to £300m each year until 2020 to invest into diagnosing cancer earlier.
Join our community of over 50,000 online campaigners across the UK helping to drive political action.
Take part in our community of over 200 volunteer Campaign Ambassadors helping to influence governments across the UK to take action on cancer and driving improvements for cancer in their local communities. Visit our Campaigns Ambassador page here.
