In 2022 the Australian Government distributed GP cancer screening engagement packs to more than 7000 general practices across Australia including demo bowel screening kits, cervical screening swabs and waiting room posters.  

As part of the evaluation of that mailout, GPs told us the packs were valuable and future packs should include additional translated resources for consumers from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities.  

As a result, we are mailing new and updated kits and providing translated materials to distribute across practices to help encourage patients to screen for bowel, breast and cervical cancer.  

The packs will include: 

• A letter to the practice manager with information on how to distribute the kits 

• Four posters, one for each national cancer screening program and a self-collect campaign poster. Translations will be available to be printed in-practice.  

• A National Cancer Screening Register flyer with information about how to connect clinical software to the NCSR 

• Five presentation folders for GPs which include: 

• Demonstration bowel cancer screening home test kit and cervical screening self-collection swab 

• Three fact sheets with illustrated reference guides – translations of the reference guide will be available online for printing.  

• A tearaway notepad to write personalised notes for patients with information about cancer screening to take home 

Digital copies of the printed materials within the pack, can also be found on the Collaboration Hub and on the Department of Health and Aged Care website. 

Using information from these reports can better enable your team to give the right care, at the right time.

Take cancer screening, for example. Cancer screening is an important activity for GPs because the early detection of common cancers can improve treatment outcomes and reduce mortality rates, ultimately benefiting patient health and wellbeing. With that in mind, this article will focus on how General Practice staff can make the most of Primary Sense in the early detection of cancer.

Two reports highlight cancer screening opportunities that you and your team can use to offer opportunistic care, or plan continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities:

Report 1: Bowel and Breast Cancer Screening

This report comprises two different data tables:

Male patients eligible for bowel cancer screening

This table lists male patients aged between 50 and 74 years old without evidence of bowel cancer screening in the past two years. This table excludes patients who have a diagnosis of bowel cancer or colostomy, or who had a colonoscopy in the last two years.

Female patients eligible for breast cancer screening and or bowel cancer screening

This table lists female patients aged between 50 and 74 years old without evidence of breast or bowel cancer screening in the last two years. This table excludes patients who have a diagnosis of breast or bowel cancer, or colostomy, or who had a colonoscopy in the last two years. Both of these tables also include common risk factors (N/A means the risk factor is not recorded in your system), last visit and next visit date, giving you the flexibility to target specific risk cohorts, or offer opportunistic care people as they visit the practice.

Report 2: Patients missing PIP QI or Accreditation Measures or Patients Booked in with Missing PIP QI Measures

As the proportion of female patients with an up-to-date cervical screening result is a Practice Incentives Program (PIP) Quality Improvement (QI) Quality Improvement Measure (QIM), these reports can be used to target female patients where a cervical screening result has not been recorded.

The Patients Missing PIP QI or Accreditation Measures report will list all patients in your clinical database, and will indicate missing information with an 'N' in the appropriate column (N meaning Not recorded). This can be useful for providing a list when planning a QI activity

The Patients Booked in with missing PIP QI Measures report lists only those patients with an appointment booking in the next two weeks. This report will be useful for identifying chances to provide opportunistic care.

For more information about using Primary Sense for cancer screening, or for anything Primary Sense please contact the NQPHN Primary Sense Team at primarysense@nqphn.com.au