Irish Cancer Society donates €1 million to support bowel cancer screening

The Irish Cancer Society has donated €1 million to BowelScreen-The National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. The contribution will be used to purchase equipment in hospitals around Ireland which will support the expansion of colorectal symptomatic and screening service and the continued rollout of the bowel cancer screening programme.  BowelScreen is a Government-funded service delivered by the National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS), which began offering free bowel cancer screening to people aged 60 to 69 in 2012. In the longer term, it is planned to extend the programme to those aged 55 to 74. The donation from the Irish Cancer Society will be used to fund the improvement of endoscopy services in hospitals around Ireland. This will scale up volumes and capacity of endoscopy services and support the screening programme.   Donal Buggy, Head of Services, said, “The Irish Cancer Society has campaigned for a bowel cancer screening programme that is available to everyone between the ages of 55 to 74 for many years. We committed to donating €1 million towards the rollout of the bowel cancer screening programme in 2009, as an expression of our commitment to ensuring that this vital service was rolled out at a time when Government was cutting spending and services.  We are delighted that BowelScreen has begun and that we are in a position to provide funding to support the expansion of the programme. Bowel cancer screening has the potential to save lives by detecting cancers at an early and treatable stage and we believe that is essential that it is available to all who need it. Screening has commenced and will be offered to people aged 60 to 69 over the coming years. We hope that our investment in the programme will mean that screening is extended to cover the full 55 to 74 age year group as quickly as possible.” Dr Susan O’Reilly, Director, National Cancer Control Programme commented: “We acknowledge the generous commitment of the Irish Cancer Society to support the expansion of colorectal symptomatic and screening services with a €1 million donation. The NCCP completed a collaborative consultation with HSE Regions and hospital groups to provide funding to a number of projects that will ultimately improve capacity and deliver quality of care for patients availing of colonoscopy and endoscopy services”. Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in Ireland. Each year over 2,000 people in Ireland are diagnosed with bowel cancer and 900 people die from it. One of the reasons for this is that more than half of people with bowel cancer are diagnosed in the later stages of the disease which means that they require more complex treatment and have a poorer chance of survival. The good news is that bowel cancer is treatable if caught in time and screening helps detect bowel cancer at an early stage. Bowel cancer screening means that fewer people will develop the disease in the first place, that more of those who do can be treated successfully and that fewer people will die from bowel cancer.  The funding for the €1 million donation comes from a private bequest which was made to the Society. “We are grateful to our donors and supporters who make it possible for us to work towards a future without cancer by ensuring that life-saving measures like bowel cancer screening are in place”, Mr. Buggy said.  The Irish Cancer Society advises people who are concerned about bowel cancer or who have been experiencing bowel symptoms for four weeks or more to contact their GP immediately. People who are concerned about bowel cancer can also speak in confidence with a specialist cancer nurse by calling the Irish Cancer Society’s National Cancer Helpline on Freefone 1800 200 700.