Oral Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2026

Screening outcomes from a multicomponent GP-led intervention to improve bowel cancer screening  (146412)

Eleonora Feletto 1 , Anna M Kelly 1 , Karen Canfell 1 , Jie-Bin Lew 1 , Lyndal Trevena 2 , Sarah Durkin 3 4 , Emily He 1 , Belinda Goodwin 5 , Mark Jenkins 6 , Kate Broun 7 , Katina D'Onise 8 , Christopher Horn 9 , Melissa Treby 10 , Amanda McAtamney 11 , Anita Dessaix 12 , Jeff Cuff 13 , Claire Nightingale 3 , Glenn Austin 14 , Paul Grogan 1 , Natalie Taylor 15 , Qingwei Luo 16
  1. Cancer Elimination Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Newtown, New South Wales, Australia
  2. The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales
  3. Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria
  4. Australia School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
  5. Cancer Council Queensland, Fortitude Valley, Queensland
  6. Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
  7. Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria
  8. School of Public Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia
  9. Cancer Institute NSW, St Leonards, New South Wales
  10. Cancer Council Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia
  11. Cancer Council Australia, Sydney, New South Wales
  12. Cancer Council NSW, Woolloomooloo, New South Wales
  13. Research Advocate, Sydney, New South Wales
  14. Queensland Health, Brisbane, Queensland
  15. School of Population Health, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales
  16. The Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, and Cancer Council NSW, Sydney, New South Wales

Aims: To evaluate whether a multicomponent general practice-led intervention increased bowel cancer screening participation among patients eligible for Australia’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. 

Methods: We conducted a two-arm, cluster-randomised hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation trial across four Primary Health Network (PHN) sites in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Practices were randomised to intervention or usual care. The intervention included a decision-support tool, electronic point-of-care prompts, National Cancer Screening Register integration, educational resources and implementation support from PHN-based Clinical Trial Coordinators. Aggregated practice-level data were collected monthly from September 2024 to May 2025. The primary outcome was the proportion of active eligible patients with a completed immunochemical faecal occult blood test in the previous two years. 

Results: Ninety-three practices were recruited and 83 completed the trial (41 intervention, 42 usual care); 62 practices were included in the final analytical sample. Among people aged 45 to 74 years, mean screening rates increased from 262.9 to 270.3 per 1,000 eligible patients in intervention practices and from 272.9 to 281.9 per 1,000 in usual care practices. In adjusted analyses, screening was higher during the intervention period than the pre-intervention period (RR 1.05, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.06, p<0.0001). Trial arm was not independently associated with screening participation (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.15). 

Conclusion: This large-scale trial demonstrates the feasibility of embedding colorectal cancer screening support within routine Australian general practice. Although screening participation increased during the study period, no independent intervention effect was observed. The findings contribute important evidence on how screening interventions can be integrated into existing practice systems and inform future efforts to strengthen participation in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.