Recruiting Cancer Champions

9 November 2012, 12:35 | Updated: 9 November 2012, 13:06

Health bosses in Northamptonshire are trying to find people who can help encourage others in their community to get checked early for cancer.

A recruitment drive's on to find people across Northants to become DETECT champions.  DETECT stands for Diagnose Early to get Effective Cancer Treatment.

DETECT Champions are given advice and information from the NHS about cancer symptoms and the treatment available for different types of the disease.  They're then encouraged to pass on this information to people around them through organising events like coffee mornings.

NHS Northamptonshire want to find people from all sections of the community to become DETECT Champions; young and old and from all ethnic groups.

Joyce Driscoll from Wellingborough lost her mum, brother and sister to cancer and has now become a DETECT Champion.  She said: "The promotion of early detection is really important as many people are unaware of the fact that if caught early, many cases of cancer can be treated. I'm hoping lots of people in the community will put their name forward to become a DETECT Champion."

Jit Parekh, Social Marketing Manager at NHS Northamptonshire said: "The DETECT Champions network is a great way of getting the early detection message out to the public across Northamptonshire.

"Our current DETECT champions do a fantastic job in talking to their friends, family and local community about early detection, so we want to encourage more people to sign up and make a difference."

You can register your interest in becoming a DETECT Champion by e-mailing communications@northants.nhs.uk or calling 01604 651 734.