Ovarian Cancer

(asked on 3rd July 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the two research studies into ovarian cancer awareness which the previous Government indicated it planned to publish in the summer of 2017.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 6th July 2017

Public Health England (PHE) has published one full evaluation report on the pilot campaign and one interim report on the regional campaign for the Be Clear on Cancer ovarian cancer campaign.

The full evaluation of the local ovarian cancer pilot campaign which ran from 14 January – 17 March 2013 it can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ovarian-cancer-awareness-campaign-local-pilots-evaluation-report

The interim evaluation report on the regional ovarian cancer awareness campaign, which ran from 10 February- 16 March 2014 in the North West of England it can be accessed here:

http://www.ncin.org.uk/cancer_type_and_topic_specific_work/topic_specific_work/be_clear_on_cancer/

PHE is planning to produce a full and final evaluation report for the Be Clear on Cancer ovarian cancer awareness regional campaign by April 2018.

The Department’s Policy Research Unit on Cancer Awareness Screening and Early Diagnosis has undertaken a qualitative research study in which members of the public were given access to available leaflets on ovarian cancer awareness and then participated in six focus groups and interviews on their acceptability and how they would be received and understood if included within the clear screening results letter from the breast or cervical screening programme.

This study is now complete and has been presented at the recent Cancer Research UK Early Diagnosis conference. The work is currently being written up for submission to a peer-reviewed medical journal. The Health Research Authority approval for a further qualitative research study with professionals has now been granted, and the work is in progress.

A second project is a synthesis of published incidence, mortality, stage distribution and stage-specific survival rates for ovarian cancer by age. The aim of this project was to identify which age group would be most likely to benefit from such an intervention, in terms of risk of ovarian cancer, and room for improvement in stage at diagnosis. This study is now also complete, fully written up, and has been submitted to a journal for publication. The journal’s response is awaited.

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