St Mark's new drive to reduce bowel cancer
A London hospital is the first in the UK to roll-out home-testing kits for bowel cancer that targets 56 year-olds.
St Marks Hospital was chosen after becoming the first hospital to clear its backlog of more than 24,000 screening invitations that built up during the pandemic when many services were suspended.
The new target audience is part of a phased four-year strategy that will see people eligible for biennial screening which will eventually include 50 year-olds.
Bowel cancer screening identifies 20% of all cancers treated at the trust annually
The current screening age is for 60-74 year-olds who receive home kits every two years with those testing positive called in for an examination, which usually involves a colonoscopy.
People are automatically identified through a national screening system when registered with a GP.
Professor Brian Saunders, Director of Bowel Screening at the specialist cancer hospital in north-west London, said: “The risk of bowel cancer in men and women triples after the age of 50 and affects around one-in-eighteen people in the UK.
“Screening is crucial in helping reduce both the number of deaths and incidence of bowel cancer because the earlier it is caught, the better the chance of survival.”
St Mark’s was the first centre in London to introduce screening for 60-69 year-olds as part of the Government’s original drive to address the problem in 2006 when the UK had one of the worst bowel cancer survival rates in Europe .
It led the capital’s response two years later when screening was extended to 60-74 year-olds and, in again 2013, when 55 year-olds we offered a one-off investigation of their lower bowel (a flexible sigmoidoscopy).
The hospital currently sends out more than 1,500 invitations and kits a week.
Professor Saunders added: “The test kit is about screening people without symptoms. However, if you have symptoms such as blood in your poo and loose stools over a prolonged period of time it is important you tell you GP.”