Support Primary Care

GPs and primary care teams are often the first point of contact for people experiencing possible cancer symptoms, and are essential in facilitating timely cancer diagnoses.  

They can also encourage participation in cancer screening programmes, often the most effective way to find cancer early when it’s easier to treat.  

The Cancer Improvement & Earlier Diagnosis (CIED) team therefore works closely with primary care clinicians, including GPs, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists across NHS Scotland to support earlier diagnosis efforts.  

Scotland’s Cancer Action Plan (2023-2026) outlines a number of areas to support primary care, which will contribute to achieving Scotland’s earlier diagnosis vision to reduce the proportion of later stage cancers diagnosed at a later stage by 18%.