Ratification Date: 25/07/2025

Next Review Date: 25/07/2027

Early Detection and Prevention

Screening

NHS cancer screening programmes can help to diagnose cancer or risk of cancer earlier and improve the likelihood of successful treatment. If you are eligible, please make every effort to have your screening test. Screening tests can detect a problem early, before you have any symptoms. Finding out about a problem early can mean that treatment is more effective.

If you notice any worrying signs, symptoms or changes that are not normal for you, please do not wait for a screening invitation – go and see your GP. There are three national cancer screening programmes in England: Cervical, Breast and Bowel. Lung Cancer screening is rolling out across all areas of England, including Norfolk, Waveney and Suffolk.

Screening is a way of identifying apparently healthy people who may have an increased risk of a particular condition. The NHS offers a range of tests to different sections of the population.

Cervical screening

The NHS cervical screening programme in England is offered to people with a cervix aged from 25 to 64. Routine screening is offered every 5 years from when you’re 25 to 64 years old. After 65 you will only be recalled if a recent test was abnormal.

If you’re 65 or older and have never been for cervical screening or have not had cervical screening since the age of 50, you can ask your GP for a test. You can book an appointment as soon as you get a letter but if you missed your last cervical screening, you do not need to wait for a letter to book an appointment.

The new test will identify more people at risk of cervical cancer earlier and could prevent around 600 additional cancers a year.

Do not wait for your next cervical screening appointment and go and see your GP if you’re worried about symptoms of cervical cancer such as:

bleeding between periods, during or after sex, or after you’ve been through the menopause
unusual vaginal discharge

You can find more information below:

Here is a film about what happens at a cervical test.
Here is an easy read guide to having a smear test.
Here is a resource to help you make decisions about your cervical screening
Here is a video from a local cervical cancer survivor, Laura Woods talking about the importance of the cervical screening programme.

Information about cervical screening is available in different languages: Urdu, Punjabi, Polish, English / British sign language and also in easy read.

HPV vaccine

The HPV vaccine reduces your chances of getting human papillomavirus (HPV), a common virus that’s spread through skin contact (usually when having sex). Most types of HPV are harmless. But some types are linked to an increased risk of certain types of cancer, including: cervical cancer, mouth cancer, anal cancer and penile cancer. HPV can also cause genital warts.

The HPV vaccine is recommended for children aged 12 to 13 years old and people at higher risk from HPV. All children aged 12 to 13 (school year 8) are offered the HPV vaccine. If you missed getting vaccinated when you were 12 or 13, the HPV vaccine is available for free on the NHS for:

all girls under 25
boys born after 1 September 2006

You can find out more about the HPV vaccine here:

If you have had your HPV vaccination (and are eligible for the Cervical Screening Programme), you will still need to attend your Cervical Screening appointment.

Breast screening

Breast screening uses an X-ray test called a mammogram that can spot cancers when they’re too small to see or feel.

Breast screening is offered to women aged 50 to their 71st birthday in England. You will first be invited for screening within three years of your 50th birthday. There is currently a trial so some women may be invited to an extra screen between the ages of 47 and 49, and to an extra screen between the ages of 71 and 73. You may be eligible for breast screening before the age of 50 if you have a very high risk of developing breast cancer.

If you are 71 or over, you will stop receiving screening invitations. You can still have screening once you are 71 or over if you want to and can arrange an appointment by contacting your local screening unit.

If you’re worried about breast cancer symptoms, such as a lump or an area of thickened tissue in a breast, or you notice that your breasts look or feel different from what’s normal for you, do not wait to be offered screening. See a GP.

Please find some useful resources below:

Information about breast screening is available in different languages here: Urdu, Punjabi, Polish, English / British sign language.

Bowel screening

As part of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, men and women aged 50-74 are sent a home testing kit every two years to collect a small sample of poo to be checked for tiny amounts of blood which could be caused by cancer. In 2019, the home testing kit was changed from the guaiac Faecal Occult Blood Test (gFOBT) to the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) because it is:

more accurate – it can detect smaller signs of blood hidden in poo samples, which can be an early sign of bowel cancer.
easier to use – only one sample is required. The gFOBT required three samples to be taken on three different days.

The programme is expanding so that everyone aged 50 to 74 years will be eligible for screening. This has happened gradually over 4 years and started in April 2021 with 56-year- olds. Make sure your GP practice has your correct address, so your kit is posted to the right place. If you’re 75 or over, you can ask for a kit every 2 years by phoning the free bowel cancer screening helpline on 0800 707 60 60. If you’re worried about a family history of bowel cancer or have any symptoms, speak to a GP for advice.

Find out more about screening:

Learn about screening and diagnosis – how screening is carried out, and when people will be checked.
How to carry out a bowel cancer test video
Bowel cancer signs and symptoms, and screening test details on the NHS website
This is an easy read guide to screening
Here is information on what screening is and how it works – Cancer Research

Information about bowel screening is available in different languages here: Urdu, Punjabi, Polish, English / British sign language and in easy read as well.

Lung Cancer

In 2022, the Targeted Lung Health Check programme started to roll out in Great Yarmouth and Waveney. The programme aims to identify Lung Cancer at an early stage when it is easier to treat. It is targeted at anyone aged 55 – 74 who is a current or ex-smoker. Over the next 5 years it will expand to cover the remainder of Norfolk and Waveney.

For more information, visit the websites below:

Genetics, genomics and cancer

Most cancers are not hereditary. But some people have inherited faulty genes that increase their risk of developing some types of cancer. Genetic testing is available for some of these faulty genes.

What are genes?

Our bodies are made up of tiny building blocks called cells. Inside nearly every cell is a set of genes. Genes are the instructions for your body to work. Genes carry instructions to make proteins. Proteins are messengers for the cell. They help the cell work properly.

Genes are made up of a chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is made up of 4 chemicals called bases. The bases are arranged on 2 long strands that twist round each other like a rope. A gene is a short section of this rope. Genes are organised into structures called chromosomes. Each chromosome is made up of many genes. Chromosomes are arranged in pairs. There are 23 pairs of chromosomes in the centre (nucleus) of nearly every cell in your body. Your complete set of DNA is called your genome. Everyone’s DNA is made from the same 4 bases. But the way these are arranged is unique to you. Scientists can now look at the order of all the DNA in a cell and examine a person’s DNA. This is called whole genome sequencing.

What is genomics?

Genomics is the study of the body’s genes. . Understanding the cancer’s genes can also be important when planning treatment. Cancer genomics looks at how genes are linked to cancer. This can help doctors to:

understand how genes cause cancer to develop and grow
choose or develop new drugs that target a specific gene change in the cancer cells
plan a person’s treatment based on the genes of the cancer cells – this is called personalised medicine or precision medicine.

Further information is available below:

Lynch Syndrome

There are two types of cancer, (colorectal and gynae cancer) where local care pathways are in place to provide genetic testing and counselling for a condition called Lynch syndrome which can increase your risk of getting these and some other forms of cancer. Learn more about Lynch syndrome here.

NHS-Galleri trial

Find out more here.

NHS programme offering BRCA-testing to those with Jewish ancestry

NHS England is offering free BRCA gene testing for anyone living in England, aged 18 or over with one or more Jewish grandparent, or any type of Jewish origin (Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi etc).  In line with medical research, it is now considered best practice to offer BRCA gene testing to all Jewish people, irrespective of their own personal or family history of cancer.

Further information:

Understanding hereditary links to pancreatic cancer

There is national work underway to improve our understanding & baseline screening of patients known to have or diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The NHS are working with general practices and acute hospitals to recruit people with a family history of pancreatic cancer and people who have been diagnosed with hereditary pancreatitis into the EUROPAC study. Those who are at a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer will be offered screening.