National Awareness & Early Diagnosis Initiative
The National Awareness & Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) was announced in the Cancer Reform Strategy and is being lead by Cancer Research UK and the Department of Health. It aims to coordinate a programme of activity to support local interventions to raise public awareness of the signs and symptoms of early cancer and encourage people to seek help sooner.
In collaboration with the National Cancer Action Team, NCIN has prepared a guide for cancer networks and primary care trusts who are conducting their local awareness and early diagnosis baseline audits. NCIN will also continue to contribute to the other NAEDI workstreams, in particular through the provision of surrogate measures of early or late presentation and support to the international benchmarking project.
NAEDI Cancer Awareness Measure
Cancer Research UK, University College London, King's College London and the University of Oxford developed a set of questions designed to assess cancer awareness. For more information on the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) please click here.
Results of the national baseline cancer awareness survey have been published, and 19 Cancer Networks are now using the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) locally. For more information please click here.
The national data archive for CAM generated data is now online, and has some national and local data uploaded. The data can be found here.
We hope this tool will enable PCTs to use existing data as a guide for their work in early presentation, and we are testing how this would work.
Reducing Primary Care Delay
The RCGP national audit is now running in 17 Cancer Networks, with more funded through LAEDI slippage. Plans and procurement for next year are being finalised.
- Results from the Significant Event Audit (SEA) were published in July, identifying key themes within the diagnostic process for lung and TYA cancer. 113 out of 160 practices in Northern England participated
- Launch events for the audit have included good engagement with GPs (e.g. Anglia, Sussex). This process has also led to GPs being included in network governance structures (e.g. Peninsula)
- A central coordinating function (based at the University of Durham) will serve as the base for ongoing developing of the audit tools, the repeat of the SEA, manage the central repository for audit data and provide a central analytical resource
Review and Publishing the Evidence
The special awareness and early diagnosis supplement of the BJC was published on 3 December. It was overseen and produced by Professor Mike Richards in conjunction with Cancer Research UK.
The supplement includes much of the evidence underpinning NAEDI, including evidence on the effectiveness of some interventions.
Click here to view the supplement.
A summary of this evidence has been presented to the spearhead PCT learning network and will be shared with network directors.
