Local TV adverts and social media posts for the Help Us, Help You will urge people to speak to their GP if they have a symptom including diarrhoea, bloating or discomfort in the tummy area for 3 weeks or more as they could be a sign of cancer.
In England, around 84,000 people were diagnosed with cancers in the abdominal area in 2018, which includes ovarian, kidney and bowel cancers.
More than 4 in 10 people would leave it longer to get health advice than they normally would have before the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, however delaying can have serious consequences for some cancers. That figure came from Kantar, which in September 2020 asked a representative sample of 2,178 adults about their attitudes to seeking medical help at that time, compared to what they would have done before the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020.
While there was a dip in referrals for these cancers at the peak of the first COVID-19 wave, more people are now coming forward for checks.
Hospitals have put extensive measures in place so that patients can get safely tested and treated, including by rolling out COVID-19 protected hubs across the country and introducing treatment swaps that require fewer trips to hospital and have less of an effect on cancer patients' immune systems.
England's top GP has said people should not hesitate to
