Too many people were dying from bowel cancer in North East London because they were diagnosed too late.
We needed to increase the number of older people seeing the GP when they had possible symptoms.
Increasing awareness of Bowel Cancer
Insight
- Low symptom awareness, fatalism and embarrassment – were the biggest obstacles to people seeing the GP
Solution
- ‘Plain-speaking’ advertising campaign co-created with local people
- ‘Ambassador army’ including nurses & pharmacists signposted people with possible symptoms to see the GP
- High impact touring ‘Big Bowel’ inflatable exhibition really engaged the public
- ‘Symptom checker card’ was mailed to targeted 50-59 year olds – to prompt discussion with the GP
- Highly effective ‘good odds if you catch it early’ partnership with Coral bookmakers
Impact
- Over half of local GPs and pharmacists saw an increase in people presenting with possible bowel cancer symptoms during the campaign
- The number of GPs referring people for further bowel cancer tests increased 600% during the campaign period
