Irish Cancer Society hopes the positive results for BowelScreen will encourage uptake

The Irish Cancer Society is delighted to see the first round results and successes of Ireland’s national bowel cancer screening service. Three in four of the cancers caught by BowelScreen were at an early stage, which generally leads to better outcomes for the person with cancer. The Society says given the relatively low uptake of only 40%, it hopes the positive results encourage more people to get screened for bowel cancer.

The Irish Cancer Society says that on back of the report, it will be encouraging more people in the eligible 60-69 age group to avail of the free screening programme and will intensify its call on Government to extend the programme to the full 55-74 age population.

Donal Buggy, Head of Services and Advocacy with the Irish Cancer Society, said “The results show that BowelScreen can and does catch cancer early – 521 cancers were detected and 13,000 polyps or adenomas were removed, which could have potentially developed into cancer. It is disappointing that more people haven’t availed of the free screening programme but that’s something we can work on. I’m sure the positive results from the first round of BowelScreen will encourage many more people to get involved. The Irish Cancer Society will work with the National Screening Service to improve the uptake rate and to particularly encourage men to get screened as their uptake rate is only 36%.”

Every year in Ireland 1,000 people die from bowel cancer, making it the second most deadly cancer. Around 50% of bowel cancers are diagnosed at a late stage, reducing survival rates. The Irish Cancer Society says that these results show that BowelScreen can change this pattern, catch bowel cancer early and it is truly a life-saving programme.