Public encouraged to come forward for cancer checks

The NHS has enlisted the help of a number of celebrities who have cancer to encourage the public to come forward for vital, life-saving checks.

Famous faces backing the move to increase take-up of NHS checks include the Nolan sisters, who have recently opened about their cancer diagnosis and former BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull.

Although the NHS treated 85,000 people for cancer during the pandemic, nearly half of the public have said they had concerns seeking help in the midst of the outbreak, and one in 10 reported that they wouldn’t contact their GP even if they had a lump or a new mole.

Hospitals have put extensive measures in place so that patients can get safely tested and treated, including by rolling out covid protected hubs across the country and introducing treatment swaps that require fewer trips to hospital and have less of an effect on cancer patients’ immune systems.

The call to get checked follows a sharp drop in the number of people coming forward, with 141,643 referred in June compared to almost 200,000 during the same period last year.

England’s top cancer doctor has urged people to come forward for checks, and said that waiting to get help can have serious health consequences now and in the future.

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS clinical director for cancer said: “We cannot let covid become a reason for people not to get checked for cancer – NHS staff up and down the country have worked very hard to make sure that tests and treatment can go ahead quickly and safely. Cancers are detected earlier and lives are saved if more people are referred for checks so our message to you is to come forward – it could save your life.”