The technology behind cervical screening is amazing. It can catch many abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix before they become cancerous. The screening programme in the UK saves the lives of an estimated 5000 women a year.
But the programme can only reach its full potential if women feel encouraged to take up their invitation to attend screening – and many of them still don’t. In fact, the number of women getting screened is declining - in England uptake for all women of screening age was down from a high of 82.5% in 1998 to 77.8% in 2014, with similar trends seen across the UK. A Demos report, Behind the Screen, commissioned by Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust in 2014 showed that increasing screening uptake to 85% would not only decrease incidence rates by 14% in just one year, it would also save taxpayers at least £10 million a year.
The Whitehouse Consultancy has been working with Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust to help try and turn this around. The reforms to the health service over the course of the 2010-15 Parliament have made it even more important than ever for public health campaigns to work at a local level to be effective.
As part of our activity for Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, we analysed the cervical screening uptake statistics which are published on an annual basis, identifying the areas where screening is the lowest and implementing a programme of activity designed to make real improvements in these communities – with Brighton, Newcastle and Liverpool among the initial priority areas identified due to lower coverage compared to the national average.
The campaign then further identified the key stakeholders in the local areas, including MPs, representatives from the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS England, Health and Wellbeing Boards, clinicians and patients. Focused roundtable meetings (hosted by the local MP) were held to allow service providers, influencers and users the opportunity to discuss and better understand the barriers to improving screening rates in the local area. The primary objective was to enable improved and targeted communications leading to increased awareness of the issue and ultimately improve uptake rates - achieving better outcomes for local women.
A range of outcomes have been developed following the stakeholder meetings, including the potential to commission local prevention campaigns, reviews of messaging used to reach eligible women, local media activity, and agreements to be engaged with the two awareness weeks run by Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust – Cervical Cancer Prevention Week in January and Cervical Screening Awareness Week in June.
Parliamentary engagement also supported the local activity, to gather wider support for the campaign. A parliamentary drop-in event was held, where over 40 MPs attended to find out about screening uptake in their constituency, including how their area compares to the national average. MPs received bespoke press releases and letters to use in their local constituency, to raise awareness with their constituents and local health services providers.
This successful campaign has been an illustration of how thinking local works.