People with breast, cervical and bowel cancers detected through national cancer screening programs have better cancer survival outcomes than those diagnosed who had never been screened.[i]
However:
People are more likely to attend cancer screening when they are reminded to do so by their primary care provider.
It is important that primary care providers systematically:
The cancer screening quality improvement recipes support practices to:
These recipes can be used in conjunction with cancer screening quality improvement tools and resources, including cancer screening reminder templates and work-flows. Primary care providers should contact their Primary Health Network for more information about cancer screening quality improvement tools and resources.
[i] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW): Analysis of cancer outcomes and screening behaviour for national cancer screening programs in Australia . Canberra : AIHW, 2018.
Establish and monitor cancer screening participation rates:
Invitation recipes – identify patients who will soon become eligible for screening:
Reminder recipes – identify patients who have been screened and who are due to return to screening:
Never screened/Overdue recipes – identify patients who are overdue for screening or who have never screened:
Optional steps to add Topbar prompts or recall:
Optional step to combine the above searches with MBS items such as GPMP and/or TCA eligibility