One quarter of all childhood cancers occur in the brain.  Brain tumours are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children and young people– one child every three days - and are associated with acquired long-term disability, such as blindness, deafness, mobility problems and learning difficulties, in 2/3 of survivors. These outcomes are directly related to the time it takes to diagnose a tumour from symptom onset.

HeadSmart: be brain tumour aware is a national campaign, based on an NHS Evidence-accredited, RCPCH endorsed guideline, to raise awareness of childhood brain tumour signs and symptoms, amongst health professionals and the public, in order to reduce diagnosis times and improve outcomes by:

• empowering parents to recognise symptoms so they visit doctors appropriately and
• supporting health professionals to feel confident in discriminating which children may have a tumour and in delivering appropriate subsequent management – reassure, review or refer for a scan.

HeadSmart has a range of resources including a website www.headsmart.org.uk with additional information for health professionals, a free e-learning module for health professionals http://www.headsmart.org.uk/edu/launch.html, pocket-sized symptoms cards to give to parents and young people and a free mobile symptoms guide – text SMART to 81400. 

HeadSmart is also looking for nurses who are interested in helping to spread awareness by becoming a Community Champion 

For more information, or to order the free symptoms cards, please contact info@headsmart.org.uk

HeadSmart is run by a partnership between The Brain Tumour Charity, the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. It is supported by the Royal College of GPs, the Association of Paediatric Emergency Medicine and the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG). It recently won the NHS Innovation Challenge Prize in the Earlier Cancer Diagnosis category (2013).