Cancer Screening and Red Flag Symptoms
CANCER SCREENING
| SCREENING PROGRAMME | HOW? | Who does it? | Role of primary care |
| Breast cancer Screening | Mammograms every 3 years for women aged 50 to 71 yrs | The NHS Breast screening service send invites, done at mobile units or hospital units | *Encourage eligible women to attend.
*Promote breast self- examination. |
| Bowel cancer Screening | FIT screening tests for adults aged 50-74 every 2 years | The NHS Bowel Screening Programme send out FIT screening test kits to eligible adults | *Encourage eligible adults to complete the FIT test and return them |
| Cervical cancer screening (Smear test) | Cervical sample for women (including transgender men who have a cervix) 25 to 49- years old, every five years, if recent and previous tests show they do not have HPV* | The NHS Cervical Screening Programme send invites to eligible women to attend primary care to have their cervical screening. | *Doctors and practice nurses in GP Surgeries or sexual health clinics take the sample.
*Encourage eligible women to take up the offer |
| Lung cancer screening (currently only available in certain places) | Phone call consultation, resulting in low dose CT scan (for those identified as high risk) for people aged between 55 and 74 who have ever smoked (as recorded by their GP), every 2 years. | Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital is the Lead Provider for the programme, working in collaboration with local NHS teams | *Encourage eligible people to attend.
*Encourage patients to record their smoking history on their GP record. |
Important information
Lung screening team phone number for any queries: 0151 254 3032
Read more about the UK collaborative trial of ovarian cancer screening
Symptomatic vs screening FIT – what’s the difference?
| Screening FIT | Symptomatic FIT | |
| Eligibility criteria | Male or female
Aged 50-74 |
Any one at any age with symptoms suggestive of bowel cancer |
| How often? | Every 2 years | When required |
| How do they receive the kit? | Automatically in the post from the NHS Bowel Screening Hub | From GP practice |
| Who is responsible? | NHS National Bowel Screening Hub | GP practice
|
| Does the patient have symptoms? | No | Yes |
| Threshold | 120ug | 10ug |
FIT test will be dropped off by patients at GP practice and can be kept maximum 5 days (not require to be in the fridge) example through the bank holidays.
RED FLAG SYMPTOMS
This is a summary of symptoms that may be red flag warnings of cancer.
Watch out for the following symptoms as they may need escalation for more urgent action, such as informing the on-call GP to decide if an urgent assessment is needed.
| Symptom | Red flag feature | Why it matters |
| Cough | Lasting more than 3 weeks | Can be due to lung cancer |
| Blood in urine | Painless | Can be due to bladder or kidney cancer |
| Bowel habit | Change for more than 3 weeks especially if looser stools | Can be due to bowel cancer |
| Bleeding from bottom | Blood in stools | Can bed due to bowel cancer |
| Swallowing | Swallowing difficulty that is persistent | Can be due to oesophageal (gullet) cancer |
| Skin or mouth wound/ulcer | Any wounds or ulcers that are not healing and lasting more than 3 weeks | Can be due to skin cancer |
| Skin changes | Moles that change in colour and shape | Can be due to skin cancer |
| Pregnancy | Symptoms of pregnancy that are not resolving | Can be due to several cancers |
| Breast symptoms | A new breast lump especially in women over age 30 | Can be due to breast cancer |
| Voice symptoms | Hoarse voice lasting over 3 weeks and not improving | Can be due to throat cancer |
| Weight loss | Unexplained or unintentional | Can be due to various cancers |
| Appetite | Unexplained loss of appetite | Can be due to various cancers |
