National Cancer Action Team

The National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) is a member of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI).  The aim of NAEDI is to harness the energy and contributions of national organisations, working together to save lives and increase survival through awareness and early diagnosis.

NAEDI is a public sector/third sector partnership between the Department of Health, National Cancer Action Team, and Cancer Research UK. It is led by Sir Mike Richards, National Cancer Director, and Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK.

See diagram and document showing the governance structure for NAEDI in 2012/13.

Since the formal launch of NAEDI in November 2008, great progress has been made to get cancer awareness and early diagnosis on the agenda locally. 

2012/13 NAEDI programme

A letter from National Cancer Director Professor Sir Mike Richards detailing plans for this year's public awareness campaigns, and a list of the campaigns, are here. Following on from this, a letter to cancer networks setting out further details about the awareness campaigns and a full overview of the primary care work for early diagnosis of cancer in 2012/13 is here. 

Key highlights of NAEDI, a presentation to the NAEDI Forum on 26/1/12, sets out policy and priorities for awareness raising in 2012/13. The note of the May 2012 NAEDI Review meeting is here. See the minutes of the NAEDI public awareness and primary care advisory group meeting on 7/11/12 and 14/2/13.

A slide presentation showing Department of Health priorities for supporting primary care in 2012/13, based on a consultation with stakeholders, is available here. NCAT's update on primary care at the NAEDI Forum 18/6/12 is here.

NAEDI work so far has focused on the cancers which potentially can make the biggest contribution to 'lives saved'. A report on rarer cancers and earlier diagnosis, written by the Department of Health in consultation with the relevant charities, is here.

NAEDI Newsletter

The latest edition of the NAEDI Newsletter is available for downloading here.