Oesophago-gastric cancers campaign
For information about oesophageal cancer symptoms for the public, check out our webpage
Public awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer can support timely presentation in primary care and drive earlier diagnosis. Be Clear on Cancer (BCOC) campaigns were carried out to raise awareness of key symptoms of cancer and encourage people to go to their GP without delay.
Why were the campaigns run?
The term 'oesophago-gastric' refers to cancers of the oesophagus and stomach. Expert advice and a review of evidence at the time led to a focus on the symptoms of heart burn and food sticking when swallowing as these aligned with earlier stage oesophago-gastric cancers.
Local and regional campaign pilots were run with promising results, which led to the Be Clear on Cancer national campaign to raise awareness of oesophago-gastric cancers in early 2015.
Pilots indicated that because heartburn is a common complaint, measures needed to be taken to limit the impact on local services. For example, advertising was only then only run for 4 weeks, rather than the usual 6 weeks.
Who did the campaigns target?
People over the age of 50 from lower socioeconomic groups, and their key influencers, such as friends and family.
What were the key messages?
The key messages promoted on TV were: ‘Having heartburn, most days, for 3 weeks or more could be a sign of cancer – tell your doctor.’
A second message was promoted via other campaign materials: ‘Food sticking when you swallow could be a sign of cancer – tell your doctor.’
Advertising ran across England from 26 January to 22 February 2015.
What was the impact of the campaigns?
Results from local (2012) and regional (2014) campaigns showed promising results which informed the national campaign.
2012 local pilot evaluation
Seven local projects across England focussed on oesophago-gastric cancers in 2012. When comparing the campaign period with the same time the previous year, results show [1]:
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26% statistically significant increase in urgent GP referrals for suspected upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancers in pilot areas, compared with a 16% increase in control areas
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20% increase (not significant) in oesophageal cancers diagnosed following an urgent referral for suspected upper GI cancers in the pilot area, compared with 3% increase in the control area
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No change to the oesophageal cancer conversion rate.
2014 regional pilot evaluation
A regional oesophago-gastric cancers pilot ran in the North England from February – March 2014. Research identified [2]:
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57% of people spontaneously mentioned they had seen publicity about cancer symptoms.
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Of those people, 31% spontaneously mentioned "heartburn" and 24% mentioned "difficulty in swallowing food".
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63% agreed the advertising had told them something new.
When comparing the campaign period with the same time previous year, the pilot showed:
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52% increase in urgent referrals for suspected upper GI cancers, compared with a 17% increase in the control areas [3].
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Early indications of an increase in the number of Barrett’s oesophagus cases diagnosed (a condition known to increase a person's risk of oesophageal cancer) [4].
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The total number of upper GI cancers diagnosed did not increase following the campaign. However, in the 60-69 age group there was a significant increase in the proportion of upper GI cancers diagnosed [3].
Resources
Resources were created for the campaign including briefing sheets for health professionals and campaign materials in accessible formats. You can view a few examples below:
References
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Cancer Research UK. Improving the early diagnosis of oesophago-gastric cancers; findings from seven local Be Clear on Cancer pilots. 2012.
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TNS BMRB on behalf of Public Health England, post-OG campaign survey of 300 adults aged over 50 interviewed face-to-face in the North East region, 12th – 25th March 2014
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Data from the National Cancer Waiting Times (CWT) Monitoring Dataset provided by NHS England and accessed via Public Health England’s Knowledge & Intelligence Team (East Midlands).
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Data supplied by individual NHS trusts who participated in the regional pilot which ran in the Northern England Strategic Clinical Network (SCN) area, (Feb-Mar 2014)
Be Clear on Cancer statement
Be Clear on Cancer was a cancer awareness campaign led by Public Health England, working in partnership with the Department of Health and NHS England. This page contains links to documents that we hope you find useful. Please note however that the views or opinions expressed within those links are not necessarily those of Cancer Research UK.