Three in four British adults want cancer screening: new attitudes survey

Cancer is seen as the top health concern among non-infectious diseases, according to a report by UCL academics finding that most British adults will want blood tests for cancer once they are available. The report reveals high public demand for innovative diagnostic technologies such as single blood tests for multiple forms of cancer and access to optimally effective cancer treatments. The priority given to better cancer care links to the fact that 40% of adults say their lives have been changed because people important to them have been harmed by cancer. The researchers also estimate that despite the efforts of the NHS to maintain cancer services in 2020-21, in the order of 10,000 people will die of cancer substantially earlier than would have been the case had Covid-19 not impacted the UK. The report presents the results of the second UCL School of Pharmacy Cancer Policy Project survey on British public attitudes towards cancer research and treatment. In May 2021, 2,096 UK adults were surveyed by the research consultancy Yonder on behalf of the UCL academics, for a study sample that was weighted to be representative of the overall population. The researchers found that three out of four (75%) people say, when single blood tests for multiple forms of cancer become available, they will want to be regularly tested.