Over the last few months, our Clinical Practice Services Team continued their focus on raising awareness of myeloma within primary care.
Launching new educational resources for primary care
In September, to coincide with Blood Cancer Awareness Month, the team launched new educational resources for GPs.
Myeloma: Practical tips for primary care
A new online course developed with BMJ Learning to help GPs detect and diagnose myeloma and monoclonal gammopathies. It outlines the tests to request when myeloma is suspected and provides guidance on when a referral to haematology is needed.
Myeloma and MGUS: A Guide for GPs
A new, 28-page booklet, written specifically for GPs, to guide them in the detection, diagnosis and management of myeloma and MGUS.
Early Diagnosis of Blood Cancers
A free webinar full of tips to help support the early diagnosis of myeloma and lymphoma in primary care featuring Dr Neil Rabin, current Chair of the UK Myeloma Forum.
Raising HCP awareness during Blood Cancer Awareness Month
During Blood Cancer Awareness Month, we promoted our educational materials for GPs, nurses, clinical scientists and clinicians, to increase understanding of myeloma and guide professionals in how to manage people with suspicious signs or symptoms.
We also shared interviews with Myeloma UK Early Diagnosis Steering Committee members to provide information on the work happening behind the scenes to reduce delays in diagnosis.
Don’t worry if you missed our Blood Cancer Awareness Month activity – you can find all the, resources and interviews on the Myeloma UK website.
Highlighting the importance of early diagnosis at national conferences
In October, the Clinical Practice Services Team attended two large primary care conferences to raise awareness of myeloma and promote our recently launched resources for GPs.
The team had stands at the Best Practice Show at Birmingham NEC, which had an attendance of around 4000 primary care professionals, and the Royal College of General Practicioners annual conference (RCGP 2021) in Liverpool, attended by over 1400 GPs.
At RCGP 2021 our Early Diagnosis Steering Committee chair, Dr Fenella Willis, presented at a sponsored symposium, which proved extremely popular with GPs, who were keen to learn more about myeloma.
In addition, three myeloma-related posters were exhibited at RCGP:
- Dr Willis authored a poster on the appropriateness of primary care requests for immunoglobulin quantification and protein electrophoresis
- Dr Clare Lodwick, Haematology SpR, presented a poster on the interpretation of serum free light chain results in primary care and the reduction of inappropriate urgent referrals
- Monica Morris, from the Clinical Practice Team at Myeloma UK, presented initial results from a survey of our educational Myeloma Diagnostic Tool for GPs
You can find all our educational resources for primary care here. If you would like to find out more about the work described above or obtain copies of resources, please contact the team at earlydiagnosis@myeloma.org.uk.