Leukaemia Foundation and Bowel Cancer Australia join Novartis founded ‘Wellness Day’ campaign

Human Resources: Inspired by the company’s desire to help make up for health checks people may have missed during COVID-19 lockdowns, Novartis Australia & New Zealand founded Wellness Day by gifting staff the time to #GetChecked outside of their regular annual leave entitlements.

Over 16 patient organisations are now partnering on this initiative in calling on Australian employers to unite in the same message to #GetChecked.

In supporting this initiative, Bowel Cancer Australia CEO, Julien Wiggins, told Health Industry Hub “Wellness Day encourages Australians to prioritise their health and to speak to their GP if they have missed a medical appointment, received a positive screen result, experienced new symptoms, or had their treatment adjusted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

According to Bowel Cancer Australia, there were 113,339 fewer bowel cancer screening tests returned in 2021 compared to 2019 (pre-COVID). Similarly there were 8,620 fewer colonoscopies and sigmoidoscopies in this time frame and 120 additional bowel cancer surgeries.

Mr Wiggins added “A positive bowel cancer screening test needs to be followed up promptly with a colonoscopy, otherwise the opportunity for early detection is lost. Delays resulting from the pandemic have serious implications for cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Delayed screening or referral leads to a delayed diagnosis, delayed diagnosis leads to delayed treatment which is associated with an increased risk of death.”

Leukaemia Foundation CEO Chris Tanti said the organisation was pleased to support this year’s Wellness Day campaign to encourage Australians to prioritise their health and get that health check they may have been putting off.

“While many Australians may be worried about the immediate COVID-19 threat, even in a pandemic it’s important for people to see their GP if they’re concerned about their health. Blood cancer doesn’t stop because of COVID-19. We know that the sooner diagnosis occurs, the greater chance of survival. With more than 5,600 Australians losing their life to a blood cancer each year and more than 186,000 people expected to die from blood cancers by 2035, getting behind the Wellness Day awareness campaign to encourage all Australians to book in that GP appointment they put off last year. It could save your life.”

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Cheryl Maley, General Manager Oncology ANZ at Novartis and the spokesperson for Wellness Day, told Health Industry Hub “When the program ran in 2020, the Novartis team embraced Wellness Day and underwent a variety of health checks. As a result, in some cases our employees discovered skin cancers that were subsequently attended to as well as other confirmed diagnoses. This is when it really hit home for us: How many treatable health issues are potentially going undetected across Australia because employees aren’t able to prioritise their health to book in for these potentially life-saving checks due to the busyness of work and the limitations of lockdowns? As employers, we have a pivotal role to play in supporting the health and wellbeing of our team, and we need to think beyond fruit baskets and yoga.

“We hope that Wellness Day 2022 will encourage other companies to provide the platform to bring about lasting change in the way that communities endorse preventable health checks.”

Ms Maley goes on to implore other Australian businesses to get involved and provide their staff with the opportunity to do the same.

“If we consider the number of health issues that have been identified in our organisation and during community based initiatives providing health checks direct to the public, we can ask ourselves how many more could we discover by running these programs across the country? We know early detection is crucial for positive patient outcomes and Wellness Day is a simple way to interrupt the busyness of life and allow employees to put themselves and their health first.”

To learn more visit wellnesssday.com.au or follow the campaign on Instagram.