Shoppers seek out cancer check while they shop

Cancer Research UK findings show that around half of people experiencing possible symptoms of cancer didn’t contact their GP within six months.

Currently, nearly one in two people will develop cancer at some point in their lives and by 2040, there will be over half a million new cancer cases in the UK each year. When cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, treatment is more likely to be successful and the chances of survival are much greater. 

Around nine in ten people with bowel cancer – one of the most common cancers – survive their disease for five years or more if diagnosed at the earliest stage. This falls to around one in ten when bowel cancer is diagnosed at the most advanced stage.

Tesco and Cancer Research UK are working together for the first time ever to prompt customers to seek expert information and support while they shop. If people have spotted something that doesn’t look or feel right, or that isn’t going away, they can talk to one of the supermarket’s in-store pharmacists, who are offered specialist training to support conversations with the public about possible cancer symptoms and the importance of early diagnosis.

Aston spoke to Amy Hirst from Cancer Research UK and Paul Pilkington, head of pharmacy at Tesco.