Interventions, services and service change: primary care

The cancer diagnosis in primary care audit is a partnership between NCAT/Department of Health and the Royal College of General Practitioners. Eighteen Cancer Networks used the Cancer Diagnosis Audit Tool in 2009/10 – at least 2,600 GPs in more than 750 practices were involved. The audits have been driving service development locally. Download the latest version of the Cancer Diagnosis Audit Tool here.

Article

'Audits provide GPs with tools to improve cancer diagnosis'

Reports

• Cancer in Primary Care: An analysis of significant event audits (SEA) for diagnosis of lung cancer and cancers in teenagers and young adults 2008-2009, Mitchell E, Macleod U, Rubin G, North of England Cancer Network.
• Primary Care Cancer Audit: Greater Midlands Cancer Network: Report by Bruce Eden and Andrew Davies

North West London Cancer Network has developed a DVD and toolkit for teaching GP registrars in the diagnosis and support of patients with cancer. The resource may be useful for other groups of healthcare professionals and is free to download and use.

Resources

• Cancer in Primary Care: A Toolkit Part 1: Four cases

For more information about the project, contact Sarita Yaganti, sarita.yaganti@nwlcn.nhs.uk 

Examples of training for frontline staff can also be found here.

• NEW Access the online training tool developed for frontline professionals by Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Network

NEW The North of England Cancer Network have used Lean methodology to improve the pathway for the diagnosis of lung cancer.

Article - Improvement work opens doors in the North of England

Report

• The use of Lean methods for service improvement in the early diagnosis of lung cancer, a realistic evaluation

Get the top-line on GP Practice Profiles and find out about access and how to use them with the practices in your region here.

Practice profiles have been produced by NCIN for each practice, showing cancer incidence, type of referrals, screening rates and demographic and other data. National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) funded GP leads in each network are encouraging practices to reflect on their profiles and some practices will be funded to carry out an audit of recent cancer cases.

Download the names and contact details of GP Practice Profile and Audit Leads here

Article - 'Using practice data to engage GPs in early diagnosis'

Find out how NCAT is working with primary care to promote earlier diagnosis of cancer on the NCAT website here. 

• Find out about the range of GP attitudes to cancer and early diagnosis with the NAEDI Insight research. The research also offers useful insight into public and patient awareness of cancer and response to unusual changes.
• Cancer Research UK statistics.