Last reviewed: 8 May 2024
Last reviewed: 8 May 2024
Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and Cancer Alliances should work together to improve referral practice by:
Ensuring local referral practice reflects NICE NG12 Guidelines.
Reviewing safety netting practices.
Undertaking referral audits for people who have received a diagnosis of cancer.
Using Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) Fingertips to inform improvement actions.
PCNs and Cancer Alliances should promote the use of pathways which support and streamline diagnosis and referral through:
Use of Non-Specific Symptoms (NSS) pathways for patients with non-specific symptoms.
Use of teledermatology to support faster skin cancer referrals.
Direct access tests where urgent investigation is required, but an urgent suspected cancer (USC) referral is not considered appropriate.
Use Faecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT) with patients presenting with lower GI symptoms.
Referring on to unscheduled bleeding on HRT pathways and managing breast pain only patients
Download our NG12 symptom referral guidelines poster and NG12 symptoms guide(PDF, 1.14 MB) to support with navigating and applying the guidelines in practice.
Visit our webpage on the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit for support on referral audits.
If you're assessing patients via phone or video, visit our remote consultations webpage.
Browse our GP and practice insight guides to support earlier diagnosis, providing the latest research, case studies and tips on best practice.
Complete our GatewayC module Improving the Quality of Your Referral or the Praktiki pathway What’s the risk? Recognition and referral of cancer in primary care.
Read our DNUK message on ‘Abnormal vaginal bleeding and cancer’ (free, login required).
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Read our FIT Symptomatic webpage to improve your knowledge of the use of symptomatic FIT in primary care.
Download our FIT screening v symptomatic pathway graphic (England)(PDF, 36.8 KB) for an overview of how FIT is used in bowel cancer screening and the investigation of symptomatic patients.
Download and share our How to complete a symptomatic FIT’ guide(PDF, 594 KB) with patients.
Visit our Colorectal Cancer course on GatewayC or read our short Managing suspected bowel cancer bulletin on Doctors.net (free, login required).
Read our skin cancer insight guide(PDF, 235 KB) to improve your knowledge of typical features and referral guidelines for suspected skin cancer.
Read NHS England’s dermatology digital playbook for support on how to use digital tools that support the delivery of patient pathways.
Visit our non-specific symptoms webpages for top tips and clinical guidance on how to manage and refer patients with non-specific symptoms.
Read Dr Neil Smith's key considerations when managing people who present with non-specific symptoms.
Read our guides on managing non-specific signs and symptoms of suspected cancer and spotting suspected urological cancer amongst non-specific symptoms on Doctors.net (free, login required).
Visit our safety netting hub for practical tips, resources and information to help your practice adopt e-safety netting tools.
You can use our safety netting flow chart which provides an overview of the safety netting pathway.
Watch our GP Community of Practice webinar on optimising cancer risk assessments.
Direct patients to our ‘Your urgent suspected cancer referral explained’ webpage or download our free wallet card sized leaflet to help patients who’ve been urgently referred with suspected cancer to prepare for their appointments and tests.
PCNs are required to work with partners to improve screening uptake, inclusive of breast, bowel and cervical cancer. This includes using data to understand variance in screening programme uptake, auditing non-responders to the cancer screening programme, identifying and actioning improvement priorities, and ensuring screening history is checked at every appointment.
PCNs should also support the uptake of lung cancer screening and check and update smoking history in the target population. PCNs should work with Cancer Alliances and Lung Cancer Screening providers to agree pathways for the management of incidental findings and common agreements for data sharing and processing.
Our reducing inequalities in cancer screening guide(PDF, 306 KB) provides tips and information to help address breast, bowel and cervical screening inequalities.
Visit our health professional screening webpages for an overview of bowel, breast and cervical screening programmes and guidance on encouraging informed participation.
Read our Bowel Cancer Screening Good Practice Guide(PDF, 1.1 MB) (2023) And Cervical Screening Good Practice Guide(PDF, 1.57 MB) (2024) for primary care. The guides provide practical tips, information and signposting to resources for to support informed participation.
Use our cancer screening at a glance resource(PDF, 148 KB) for a quick reference of the eligibility criteria for the screening programmes.
Watch our GP Community of Practice webinar on closing the screening inequalities gap.
Refresh your knowledge of the differences between the symptomatic and asymptomatic (screening) uses of FIT(PDF, 56.4 KB). This guide may also help you to explain the roles of the test to your patients, and the importance of completing a screening FIT even if they recently completed a symptomatic test. Practices may find further information on our FIT Symptomatic webpage useful.
Visit our Bowel Cancer Screening Hub on Doctors.net for practical information, quizzes and GP videos to support informed and equal participation in bowel screening.
To support patients: Cancer screening webpages; How to do the bowel cancer screening test patient video, wallet-sized step-by-step guide to completing a bowel screening kit, and 'Tips for collecting your poo and completing the bowel screening test'(PDF, 594 KB).
A PCN must actively seek to reduce health inequalities across its Core Network Practices in line with guidance and the CORE20PLUS5 approach. PCNs should work in partnership within local communities to deliver effective outreach and target care to address health inequalities that are amendable to primary care intervention.
Our reducing inequalities in cancer screening guide(PDF, 306 KB) provides tips and information to help address breast, bowel and cervical screening inequalities.
Read about CRUK’s Bowel Grid a practical tool to help health systems and professionals to identify which bowel screening interventions are most likely to improve uptake among groups with lower participation.
Read our screening information for trans or non-binary people.
Read our Cancer in the UK 2025: Socioeconomic deprivation report for statistics about health inequalities in the UK.
Explore insights from our Cancer Awareness Measure ‘Plus’ (CAM+). This is a survey that regularly collects information about UK public’s attitudes and behaviours across key early diagnosis areas, including barriers to accessing primary care services.
Read our articles series on health inequalities and blog post on Health inequalities: breaking down barriers to cancer screening.
Support your patients to stop smoking by referring them to our ‘How do I stop smoking’
page.
Find out more about smoking cessation interventions on The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training website.
Watch our GP Community of Practice webinar on closing the screening inequalities gap.
Stay up-to-date with the latest cancer research information.
