Early Diagnosis Programme
We’re improving early diagnosis of bowel cancer around the UK.
About the programme
Bowel cancer is treatable and curable if diagnosed early. That's why we’re running a community-led programme to improve the early diagnosis of bowel cancer in various locations across the UK. This will include symptoms awareness, the importance of returning screening kits and educating healthcare professionals. This work combines several approaches to help improve outcomes locally:
- Healthcare professional engagement and education
- Volunteer-led awareness work
- Community outreach and engagement
- Local advertising based on our “Tell Your GP Instead” campaign
- Dedicated work with pharmacies
The first phase of this programme is running for 12 months from June 2026 in five locations:
- Birmingham
- Croydon
- Cornwall
- Greater Glasgow and ClydeNeath Port Talbot
Developing the programme
We are working together with cancer alliances, communities, faith leaders, healthcare professionals and health boards to develop the right kinds of activities for each area.
These locations are being focussed on because they are areas where bowel cancer tends to be diagnosed later or where bowel cancer screening uptake is lower. For example, in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, around 40% of people do not return their screening test, so we’re particularly focussing on improving this.
If you’d like to learn more about the development of our messaging and how we brought this programme to life, you can learn more about the “Tell Your GP Instead” campaign, or get in touch with us by emailing [email protected].
Funding for this project
This work is generously funded nationally by the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK, with additional support from Moondance Cancer Initiative in Wales and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in Scotland.
Live locally want to help?
We need lots of volunteers in each place to help with running awareness activities, putting up posters and more.
Have a story to share?
Sharing your story with us can help make sure more people are diagnosed earlier when the disease is easier to treat.
Work locally as a health professional?
If you’re a local health professional, we’re here to give support, training, resources and more.
Are you a local business who could help?
No matter what you do locally, if you could help us make this programme a success we’d love to hear from you.
Our other work to improve early diagnosis
Our work doesn’t stop here. 9 in 10 people survive bowel cancer when diagnosed at the earliest stages. That’s why we’re so focussed on making early diagnosis a reality. We’re also working on this with researchers, policy makers, and more generally across all our work under our strategy ‘On a Mission’. You can learn more about this with the links below.
- Learn more about our research
- Find out more about our other campaigns and policy work
- Discover our awareness talks