Bowel cancer screening

Bowel cancer screening is used to detect cancer in people who have no symptoms. Screening helps to detect bowel cancer at an early stage when there is a much better chance of treating it successfully.

Screening may also find other changes in the bowel, such as polyps. Polyps are small growths that are not cancer but, if not removed, might turn into cancer over time. If polyps are found, they can be removed easily.

About the BowelScreen screening programme

BowelScreen test kit

BowelScreen, the national bowel screening programme, sends people in the 60 to 69 year old age group a letter asking them to take part in the bowel screening programme. Men and women who are called for screening and who are willing to take part in the screening programme are sent a home test kit called FIT (Faecal Immunochemical Test) in the post.

This test is carried out by the person in their own home. The easy-to-use test kit will include step-by-step instructions for completing the test and sending the samples by Freepost to a laboratory. In the lab the sample will be tested for the presence of blood.

The test results are expected to be normal for more than 9 in 10 people. These people will be invited for routine screening again in two years.

About 5 in 100 people will receive an abnormal result and will need an additional test. They will be referred to the hospital for a screening colonoscopy to determine any abnormality in the bowel.

Over time the programme will be expanded until the full 55 to 74 age group is reached. To develop the capacity to cater for the full 55 to 74 age group, the programme will be implemented on a phased basis, starting with men and women aged 60 to 69.