Cancer tests in supermarket carparks in bid to boost detection rates
Cancer tests will be offered in supermarket car parks as part of a national drive to speed up diagnosis, the head of the NHS is to announce.
Simon Stevens pledged a wider expansion of mobile schemes after research found they could detect cases far more speedily than conventional approaches.
A pilot scheme which placed mobile CT scanners in such settings quadrupled the number of cases of lung cancer detected at stage one or two, when it is more likely to be curable.
In total, 80 per cent of cases were found at these stages. The NHS normally detects just 20 per cent of cases this early.
Under the pilot scheme in Manchester, GPs sent letters to patients inviting smokers and ex-smokers aged 55 to 74 to undergo lung checks at local shopping centres.
If patients were found to have symptoms such as a prolonged cough, or limited lung capacity, were found, CT scans were offered on the spot.
The head of the NHS said such approaches will be rolled out more widely, with hospitals in London, the North East and Cumbria adopting new methods, to reach patients unlikely to seek out checks.
Mr Stevens also confirmed plans to introduce a new system of home testing for bowel cancer screening from next year, which it is hoped will catch up to 1,500 cases earlier annually. The new “FIT” test is easier to use than current methods, and more sensitive so it detects potential symptoms sooner.
Speaking at a London conference on Tuesday, Mr Stevens will say: “NHS cancer care is the best it’s ever been, with cancer survival increasing every year.
“Over the next 18 months the NHS will be rolling out new mobile and home screening kits to detect cancers earlier, when they can be treated best.”
Dany Bell, specialist advisor for treatment and recovery at Macmillan Cancer Support said: “The earlier that someone is diagnosed with cancer, the better their chance of successful treatment is. So it’s great news that this pilot scheme is now going to be rolled out across other parts of England.
“Lung cancer is a notoriously difficult type to diagnose at an early stage, and initiatives such as this make it easier for high-risk people to get their health checked.”
Earlier this month a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development found Britain is lagging behind most OECD nations in cancer survival. The study found the UK has the 11th worst mortality rates among all 35 countries, with rates similar to the Czech republic and Lithuania. The mortality rates of 222 deaths per 100,000 people compare with an OECD average of just 204.
Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, with more than 46,000 cases diagnosed annually, while bowel cancer is the fourth most common form of cancer, with 41,000 diagnoses a year.
The expansion of bowel cancer screening is expected to mean a fifth more cancers are caught earlier, with around 300,000 extra people screened annually from 2018/19 onwards.
Cancer Research UK welcomed the plans, but said that the NHS needed more staff in order to carry out the tests.
The plans are part of a wider NHS drive to improve take-up of health checks, by bringing them into communities.
Health services have been told to find “creative ways” to reach those at risk of ailing health, instead of relying on them to turn up at GPs.
The proposals include blood pressure checks at supermarket tills, automated testing devices in workplaces, and training of firefighters and teachers to carry out basic checks.
Other schemes to improve diagnosis of cancer include routine MRI scans for all men with suspected prostate cancer, before any biopsies are carried out.
Three NHS hospitals in west London are piloting the new method, which could be rolled out nationally, after such methods were found to be twice as likely as existing efforts to identify deadly tumours.
Research has found that the scans identify 93 per cent of aggressive cancers, compared with 48 per cent by biopsy.
NHS England said the new method reduced diagnosis time to eight days, and meant men started treatment within three weeks of referral from their GP. The method could be introduced across the country, depending on the findings from the pilot schemes at St Georges, Imperial and Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals.
