A MOTHER-of-two from Frome has urged young people to keep up with cancer screening tests by backing a campaign for text reminders to be sent as standard.
Jemma Pearson (33) cancelled, then forgot ,to rebook a cervical screening appointment after a letter was sent by post.
She has spoken to Frome Times in the wake of former Girls Aloud member Sarah Harding’s revelation that she is battling advanced breast cancer,
Jemma is supporting myGP’s ‘Remind Us’ campaign which is calling for NHSX to roll out SMS reminders for all cancer screening reminders, as standard, to end the current postcode lottery, which sees only 34% of people receiving SMS reminders, despite 85% of patients having a mobile number registered with their GP.
Jemma explained, “I got a booking letter through in March but everything was going crazy with the coronavirus situation, which left me with no childcare to be able to get to an appointment.
“I got a reminder through a few months later and I’ve only just booked it now (Wednesday ) for the end of September, as they still have limited bookings.“
Jemma, who works for Carers Support, says a text message reminder would be harder to forget about than a letter.
“We use our phones for everything today,” she said. “A letter comes through the door and can easily get swept aside, but a text message is right in front of you and you’re more likely to respond straight away.”
Jemma is supporting a campaign by the UK’s largest independent healthcare management app, ‘myGP’, which is urging NHSX to introduce centralised SMS reminders across all national cancer screening programmes.
The proposed solution, if implemented as standard across all GP practices in England, would save approximately 7,800 lives each year, it is claimed. Currently, only 34 percent of practices can ensure their patients receive a text message reminder alongside the traditional screening invite letter. Having had personal experience of family members who have fought cancer, Jemma knows the importance of having regular checks.
“My mum had breast cancer and my mum-in-law had throat cancer,” she said.“Thankfully, both have come through it – they had radiotherapy and chemotherapy.”
She added though that with both mothers in remission, any health concern now can be scary and has to be checked out immediately.
With her strong backing of the campaign Jemma will also be setting a good example to her two children Lily and Fin, to keep up with screening tests.
Campaign and experts’ comments
Central to the ‘Remind Us’ campaign is a petition, which acts as a public record of support for a much-needed intervention, based on recent research revealing that a simple SMS reminder can increase uptake of cancer screening by an average of 5.2 percent.
As the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic decrease in cancer diagnoses due to the pause put on the programmes, it is now more important than ever to encourage patients to action their invitation to screening.
The current disparity between local authorities’ cancer screening rates is also concerning.
According to NHS professor Sir Mike Richards’ independent review of adult screening services in England, of the 15 million adults invited for a free NHS screening, only approximately 10 million attend.
The campaign says that if all practices were able to sign-up to the centralised SMS reminder service, there would be an estimated increase in uptake of 5.2 percent more patients attending screenings, based on the research.
Get involved, get social
To raise awareness of the importance of attending cancer screenings, and to promote the new campaign, myGP has launched a #RemindUs social media campaign, whereby people can tag those they are closest to, whilst including the #remindus hashtag to raise awareness of the importance of attending cancer screening appointments.
