The North East London Cancer Alliance is currently promoting 3 interventions:
- Best For My Chest: a unique breast screening campaign in north east London for the LGBTIQ+ community
North East London Cancer Alliance, in partnership with leading LGBTIQ+ cancer charity Live Through This, has successfully launched a new awareness campaign for breast screening which is designed to speak specifically to the LGBTIQ+ community.
It aims to overcome fears and barriers the community is facing, encouraging more people to come forward for breast screening which will help save many lives.
Following 12 months of research and engagement with the community and supported by LGBTIQ+ champions sharing their real-life experiences, the campaign got underway last month at a venue in Shoreditch, north east London, to coincide with breast cancer awareness month. We will continue promoting the campaign to the LGBTIQ+ community over the coming weeks.
Alongside this, the team, is also delivering training for healthcare professionals to help them provide better support to the LGBTIQ+ community for their health needs.
Read more about the campaign on the North East London Cancer Alliance website.
2. Engaging on cancer signs and symptoms with older males in deprived areas through sport
North East London Cancer Alliance has been working for the last few months with Leyton Orient Football Club to reach out to older males who traditionally do not come forward with signs and symptoms of cancer, as part of our ‘It’s not a game’ campaign.
Focusing on four of the main cancer types – bowel, stomach, lung and prostate – this engagement work aims to connect with people through sport to help diagnose cancer earlier.
This included attending a health awareness day at a home game for Leyton Orient FC on 29 October. Throughout the day, we spoke to a number of local residents to highlight the importance of getting checked if you have signs or symptoms of cancer, as well as handing out leaflets with essential cancer information on.
We are looking at expanding the campaign to more areas and additional sports in 2023. For more information, visit the North East London Cancer Alliance website.
3. Targeted Lung Health Check Update
We have now provided free lung scans to over 700 people since July 2022, as a result of our pilot which is underway in Barking & Dagenham for residents aged 55-74 who have ever smoked. We are looking to roll this out to further areas.
A BBC film crew visited the site of our lung scanning truck in Barking & Dagenham on 9 November for a programme on BBC Newsnight, to look at the hard work we are doing to help spot cancer sooner.
For more information on Targeted Lung Health Checks, visit the North East London Cancer Alliance’s webpage.
