Screening is simple - and it could save your life
Locally, the third round of the bowel screening programme is targeting all men and women between the ages of 50 and 69, registered with a GP in Tayside
ALL MEN AND WOMEN aged between 50 and 69 in Tayside, Grampian and Fife once again have the opportunity to take part in Scotland’s bowel screening programme.
Over the coming months, people in the targeted age group all over Dundee will receive a test kit through the post on a GP surgery-by-surgery basis as part of the third round of screening. They are invited to do the simple test themselves in their own homes and send a tiny stool sample to a central laboratory at King’s Cross Hospital, Dundee, for testing.
The latest round of the Tayside, Grampian and Fife pilot project follows Health Minister Andy Kerr’s announcement that bowel screening is to be rolled out nationally after the pilot’s success.
In Tayside, around 250 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer and approximately 150 people die from the disease every year. Early bowel cancer is one of the most curable of all cancers and this screening programme aims to save lives by picking up the disease in its early stages. |
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Director of the Bowel Screening Programme in Tayside, Professor Bob Steele, who is based at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, explained how important it is for people to take up the invitation to be screened.
Single Tests Insufficient
“The screening programme aims to pick up the disease at an early stage and even prevent it by removing pre-cancerous growths.”
Professor Steele explained that the first two rounds of bowel screening, which were carried out in Tayside, Grampian and Fife, were highly successful with around 55% of people who were invited actually taking part.
“The cancers which were picked up through the first two rounds of the screening programme were at a very early stage and the vast majority of patients will have been cured,” he went on.
Single tests don’t pick up all cancers, so people need to do the test regularly – every two years to get full benefit, just like cervical and breast screening which are offered every three years.
Dr Margaret Kenicer, NHS Tayside Consultant in Public Health, says that the programme reduces deaths from bowel cancer and people should overcome any embarrassment to again take part in the screening.
“Those who returned their self-test kits last time should still do the test and return it to the lab again. If you didn’t do the test last time, please do give it a try this time – it’s simple, painless and it could save your life.”
“People in the 50 to 69 age group should look on bowel screening in much the same way as any other routine health check-up, such as breast screening. This is not a one-off test and people will be recalled every two years as part of the new national screening programme, which will be rolled out throughout Scotland.”
“This is the first cancer screening programme to be offered to men. Men have a higher risk of bowel cancer than women do, and rates are increasing in men. So we particularly want to encourage men, as well as women, to look after their own health and do this simple screening test, which can save lives.”
The Cancer
Bowel cancer develops on the inside of the large bowel (colon) or in the back passage (rectum). It affects both men and women, but men have a higher risk of getting this type of cancer.
In the UK, it is the second-most common cause of cancer death in men and the third-most common in women.
Symptoms include:
• Repeated bleeding from the back passage or blood in the bowel motion
• persistent change in bowel habit (for six weeks) to looser bowel motions and/or needing to go to the toilet more than usual
• persistent change in bowel habit (for six weeks) to severe constipation
• severe colicky abdominal pain
• unexplained tiredness and weight loss
If you have any of these symptoms already, contact your GP as soon as possible to discuss.
Anyone who needs further information about the test, or about bowel screening, can phone the Helpline on 0845 2700030 charged at local call rate.
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