Bowel Cancer Awareness Month: CQI initiative improves cancer screening

Bowel cancer claims the lives of 103 Australians every week, but it’s one of the most treatable types of cancer when detected early.  

Screening is one of the most effective ways to detect early signs of cancer, allowing for early intervention and treatment, which can be lifesaving.  

With funding from Queensland Health, Brisbane North PHN has recently undertaken a two-year continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiative with general practices in the region, with practices improving their bowel cancer, lung cancer and cervical cancer screening processes and rates as a result of participating.  

In the first year of the cancer screening CQI initiative, 54 practices in the region completed the full program of CQI activities, with 241 activities undertaken. In year two, 68 practices completed the full program of CQI activities, with 359 activities undertaken. 

CQI initiatives undertaken for bowel screening included:  

• data quality management: regular data cleansing and updating screening status
• recalls and follow-ups: implementation of reminder workflows using SMS, phone calls and automated tools
• screening kit management: maintaining stock for opportunistic distribution, integration of kit distribution into existing appointments and ensuring correct registration with national screening systems
• staff capability: training staff on eligibility criteria, patient conversations and recall processes, embedding screening prompts into templates, assessments and routine care
• health promotion: promoting screening awareness in practice via posters, websites, email, social media or SMS, providing accessible education in multilingual resources and services and encouraging opportunistic conversations as well as embedding bowel screening in health assessment templates.  

Feedback from practices was valuable, with greater health outcomes for the community achieved. One practice stated:  

‘By participating in these CQI activities it reinforces that there is value in having opportunistic conversations with our patients leads to better health outcomes.’ 

Another practice noted the importance of having a thorough cancer screening recall initiative in place: 

‘Due to our thorough recall process, we had a client who was recalled and diagnosed and now has treatment options available to her.’ 

Further, one practice said promotion materials improved awareness, and they saw an increase in early detection of issues, with another noting an increase in the number of patients screened for bowel and cervical cancers. 

After the success of this initiative, Brisbane North PHN will launch another cancer screening initiative in January 2027. More information will be sent to all Brisbane North practices closer to the commencement date. Meantime, practices can learn more about Brisbane North PHN’s CQI program via the Practice Toolbox.