Cancer screening is one of the most important ways to ensure that cancer is detected early meaning that treatment is more likely to be successful. However, people don’t always take up invitations and there are many reasons as to why this happens. These reasons can include language difficulties making it harder to access information and appointments, as well as fears about the procedure itself, worries about receiving bad news and other issues linked to being part of a seldom heard community. The Answer Cancer Programme has been looking at these barriers by having conversations across Greater Manchester with our VCSE partners and individuals that we meet at events in an effort to increase the uptake of screening.

As part of this work, Answer Cancer has been working with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) across 5 areas in Greater Manchester where uptakes for cervical screening have been low to look at how they can build on the work that the PCNs have already been doing, trying out different approaches to engage people and seeing which ones work best.

In phase 1 of our work, we replicated a good practice example from Trafford CCG within Robert Darbishire PCN based in Manchester.   This involved using a local VCSE organisation, the Voice of BME Trafford, to make telephone calls to women who had not responded to an invitation for cervical screening or who were due to attend.

To read our report on our successful project that is increasing screening rates amongst the majority ethnic minority population served by the Robert Darbishire PCN please click here

In phase 2 of our work, we have spread our cervical screening project across PCNs in 5 localities of Greater Manchester: Bolton, Manchester, Oldham, Salford and Rochdale.

To read more information on the work that we have been doing with other PCNs recently, please click here