Cancer services improving

Cancer services in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale have improved since the Government published its ‘Cancer Reform Strategy’ 12 months ago.

The Cancer Reform Strategy aims to work at both national and local levels to improve the quality of cancer services over a five year period until 2012.

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale is working with local partners from Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust, Rochdale Council, Springhill Hospice, voluntary services and patients to implement the Cancer Reform Strategy.

“Since the reform came in, we have been working hard to improve the quality of cancer services in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale,” said Dr Helen Lewis-Parmar, cancer lead at NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale.

“In what is a short space of time, we have made some excellent progress, striving to assess people quickly who have symptoms that suggest cancer and to improve the overall delivery of cancer services.”

Since the programme was introduced, stop smoking services have helped 2,186 people to quit smoking, an HPV vaccination programme to protect against cervical cancer, is currently being rolled out in high schools, a bowel screening programme which sends out home testing kits to everyone aged between 60 and 69 has been launched and the cervical screening programme has continued to identify women at risk of developing cervical cancer.

Dr Lewis-Parmar said there are more improvements to come. “We are going to become one of only six locations in the UK to pilot breast screening for women aged between 47 to 73, helping us to detect the disease earlier, and are in the process of planning a campaign that will encourage people to look for signs of bowel, breast and lung cancer, and importantly to go and get help,” she said.

If you are concerned about cancer, contact your GP or call NHS Direct on 0845 4647.