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Community led cancer screening

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Home Our Work Best practice, prevention, management and support Community led cancer screening

The breast, bowel and cervical cancer screening programs seek to detect early signs of disease, either before a cancer has developed or in its early stages before any symptoms occur, when early interventions can be most successful. Improvements in incidence and mortality rates through organised cancer screening programs depend on participation in the target age group. Participation in cancer screening programs is variable across the state with lower participation rates for Aboriginal communities, some culturally and linguistically diverse groups and people living in areas affected by socio-economic disadvantage. Participation in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program is particularly poor.

The Community-led cancer screening program aims to increase early detection of bowel, cervical and breast cancer by building capacity to increase participation in relevant cancer screening programs within primary care settings and through targeted community-led interventions

The following key principles have contributed to the design of this program and will drive key outcomes:

  • Equity: an equity lens will be used throughout all program initiatives to ensure under-screened group needs are the key priority
  • Locally driven initiatives: through local area commissioning the unique needs of community can be addressed, implemented and integrated at a local level allowing for flexibility to tailor initiatives appropriately   
  • Partnerships: genuine partnerships and collaboration will be fostered at all levels of the program
  • Sustainability: successful initiatives will be planned to endure beyond the scope of program.

The Community-led cancer screening program is being implemented across the following regions:

  • Gippsland PHN
  • Murray PHN
  • North Western Melbourne PHN
  • Western Victoria PHN

The program forms part of the Victorian Under-Screened Program Strategic Directions 2016-2020 and builds upon learnings from the Under-Screened Recruitment Program 2014-2016 to address disparities in cancer screening.

The implementation of the community led under screening project is supported by the Victorian Government.

Project contacts

Katie Foster
Gippsland PHN
P: 0427 346 896

Diane Sartori
Western Victoria PHN
P: 03 5304 5604

Jarnia Cameron
North Western Melbourne PHN
P: 03 9347 1188

Lynsey Blackshaw
Murray PHN
P: 02 6041 0043

The Cancer Screening Quality Improvement Toolkit has been commissioned by a consortium of three PHNs and has been developed by the Improvement Foundation utilising, in part, information from North Coast PHN’s Women’s Cancer Screening Collaborative Handbook.

Making Time to Talk About Bowel Cancer Screening: A guide for community groups has been created to help local communities to talk about the importance of bowel cancer screening, and share the message with their friends, families and networks. The guide has been developed as part of the Community-led Cancer Screening Project run by North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network, which aimed to increase participation rates for bowel, breast and cervical cancer screening in Wyndham and Brimbank.

Download the guide and share it with your community.

Copyright 2022 Victorian and Tasmanian PHN Alliance
  • About us
    • About the Alliance
    • Collaboration
    • Leadership
    • PHN Publications
    • Thought Leadership
  • Our Work
    • Best practice, prevention, management and support
      • Accelerated uptake of Hepatitis C medicines
      • Carer Awareness in General Practice
      • Community led cancer screening
      • GP Respiratory Clinics
      • Infection Prevention Helpline
      • Lymphoedema Primary Care Capacity Building
      • Optimal Care Pathways
        • Optimal Care Pathways – Oesophagogastric Cancer OCP
        • Optimal Care Pathways – Prostate Cancer
      • Place-based Suicide Prevention
      • Priority Primary Care Centres
      • Statewide Paediatric HealthPathways Project
      • Victorian HIV and Hepatitis Integrated Training and Learning
    • Connecting health with other sectors
      • Doctors in Secondary Schools
        • Apply to Doctors in Secondary Schools: one day out of your everyday
      • Enhancing Mental Health Support in Secondary Schools
    • Health system integration and reform translation
      • Alcohol and other Drug Integration
      • Care Pathways and Referral
        • COVID-19 care pathways
      • Enhancing Carers Supports Within Primary Health Care
      • Mental Health Integration
      • My Health Record Expansion
      • PIP QI Incentive partnership
      • Population Health Planning
      • SafeScript
      • State Emergency and Support Recovery
      • Statewide Specialist Clinic Referral Criteria
        • Statewide Specialist Clinic Referral Criteria – Communications Toolkit
      • The National Disability Insurance Scheme in Victoria and Tasmania
      • Voluntary Assisted Dying
  • News and Education
    • Education and Calendars
    • News
    • Online Learning
  • SafeScript Training
  • Contact
    • Contact us
    • Our PHNs
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