Breaking down barriers to early diagnosis of ovarian cancer allowed us to work directly with primary care systems to develop and test innovative interventions that support primary and secondary care to diagnose ovarian cancer at the earliest possible stage. Target Ovarian Cancer’s early diagnosis network will continue to grow these collaborations to reinforce the NHS long term plan ambition of 75% of cancers being diagnosed at stage 1 or 2 by 2028.
Our work was undertaken in two phases.
Interventions and learning report
In 2021 we formed three regional partnerships with local cancer systems in the East Midlands, Pennine Lancashire and Devon & Cornwall. The partnerships tested IT and educational interventions in primary care:
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Clinical IT alert
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Retrospective audit searches
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Safety netting searches
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Essential insight into the secondary care diagnostic pathway for primary care
The early diagnosis network was formed as a result of these collaborations to reduce regional inequalities in early diagnosis undertaken by Target Ovarian Cancer.
To find out more about this work read the full report [PDF] or watch our animation to view the key findings from our research:
Regional variation in early diagnosis report
Between 2019 and 2021, we took a diagnostic system deep dive. For us to understand how practice varies between CCGs, we asked GPs, commissioners and cancer leads to tell us about their local diagnostic pathway. This report and its findings will be of crucial reading to the following stakeholders across England:
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Clinical Commissioning Groups
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Integrated Care Systems
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Cancer Alliances
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Primary care professionals
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Any organisation or persons responsible for the planning, implementation and use of ovarian cancer diagnostic pathways
To find out more about this work read the full report [PDF] or watch our animation to view the key findings from our research:
If you have any questions about this project, or would like your organisation to work with us to create better diagnosis and care, please email Catherine Pearson, Interim Clinical Change Manager: [email protected]
Target Ovarian Cancer would like to thank the Peter Sowerby Foundation whose kind generosity made this research possible.
