Top national screening award goes to local campaign helping save women's lives

A top national award has gone to a local campaign helping save women from a disease which claims around three lives each day.

‘Life Is Precious’ from the Community Health Improvement Team at Dudley PCT has earned a Highly Commended honour from leading national charity Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust in their 2011 Cervical Screening Awards for encouraging women not to ignore the life-saving test.

A woman is diagnosed with cervical cancer every three hours in the UK and screening is vital in its prevention, detecting early changes before they progress to cancer and saving around 4,500 lives in England each year.

Jody Pritchard, Programme Manager of the team said: “We worked closely with Community Representatives and groups to reach local minority ethnic communities who, local figures showed, were less likely to respond to a screening invitation. We helped them overcome language issues, to find out more about the importance of regular testing and to overcome fears and build their confidence.

“By the end of the year-long campaign we have seen a real boost in awareness of the signs and symptoms of cervical cancer and a positive change in behaviour when it comes to screening. Women have told us that they will now see their GP if they have concerns and that they will absolutely not ignore their screening invitation.

“The really exciting thing is that we have started to build a team of health champions who will go back to their communities and share that knowledge with their families and friends - and in turn they are speaking to family and friends across the country. We have 17 Community Health Champions now and predict that they will reach around 400 people over the next year, so the benefits have the potential to be even greater and more widespread.”

Robert Music, Director of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the UK’s only dedicated charity for those affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities, said: “I and the rest of the judges were impressed with this Highly Commended application. The project had excellent results within communities where we know uptake of screening is a challenge.”

“It was especially positive to see how the community was actively involved and in particular the setting up of Community Health Champions. This project is a great example of best practice that can be shared with other organisations”

For more information contact Elizabeth Udall, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust on 07515 852690 or [email protected]___

Notes For Editors
• The Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust Cervical Screening Awards 2011 were launched in June 2011 during Cervical Screening Awareness Week. Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust (www.jostrust.org.uk) - is the UK’s only dedicated cervical cancer charity offering support and information for those affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities. National Helpline 0808 802 8000
• The judging panel wincluded: Julietta Patnick, Director, NHS Cancer Screening Programmes; Tim Elliott, Team Leader, Cancer Screening and Male Cancers at the Department of Health; Maggie Luck, Screening Coordinator, Public Health, Camden PCT, Robert Music, Director, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust
• An NHS Information Centre report in October 2010, showed that although coverage had remained steady at 78.9% only 3.3 million women aged 25-64 in England took up their cervical screening invitation in 2009-10 compared to the previous year’s peak of 3.6 million (a rise in cervical screening rates for the first time in almost a decade, attributed to the ‘Jade Goody Effect’).
• Around three women in the UK die each day from cervical cancer, with someone being diagnosed every three hours facing an uncertain future. Over 300,000 women a year are told they may have a cervical abnormality that could require treatment.
• It is estimated that the NHS Cervical Screening Programme saves 4,500 lives every year.Cervical cancer is predominantly caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which can be caught as soon as you start having intimate relationships