Camden

Find out about the campaign:

The NHS in Camden (Camden Clinical Commissioning Group) commissioned London Cancer (part of UCLPartners) to undertake a concerted programme to reduce avoidable deaths resulting from the late diagnosis of cancer in the borough. 

The programme addressed the three main causes of later diagnosis:

• A ‘small c’ social marketing campaign to (i) reduce patient delays in seeing a clinician to discuss new symptoms, and (ii) increase local uptake of national cancer screening programmes.
• A bespoke primary care education programme to improve GP referral of patients for investigation of symptoms, addressing practitioner delays. With the comprehensive programme aiming to engage all GP practices in the borough with practice-based data and bespoke training in cancer diagnosis.
• Cancer service improvements, involving clinicians and patients across the whole pathway, to reduce delays in diagnosis and treatment, once local patients have been referred.

The ‘small c’ campaign used a range of communications channels to get the key messages across to local people.

Peer education/community engagement was at the heart of the campaign. Seven community groups across Camden: Abbey Community Centre; African Health Forum; the Bengali Workers Association; Green Light Pharmacy; London Tigers; North London Cares; and Tottenham Foundation/Arsenal in the Community, were commissioned to lead the Small C campaign.

Trained community workers and volunteers spoke to Camden residents directly, via small groups and one-to-one conversations, in community settings. Residents were encouraged to share potentially life-saving information with friends and loved ones, to extend the reach of the campaign.