Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK. Yet the latest data showed that one third of people who were sent an NHS bowel cancer screening kit in England last year did not go on to complete it.
Detecting bowel cancer at the earliest stage makes you up to 9 times more likely to be successfully treated, however, this drops significantly when bowel cancer is diagnosed at the latest stage, which is why it’s so important to use the screening kit when you receive it because it detects signs of cancer before you notice anything wrong.
As more people live longer, NHS Lincolnshire ICB is supporting Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April by urging patients not to put their health at risk by opting out of bowel cancer screening and using the kit when it arrives.
What are the symptoms of bowel cancer?
The symptoms of bowel cancer can be:
- bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
- a change in bowel habit for three weeks or more especially to looser or runny poo
- unexplained weight loss
- extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
- a pain or lump in your tummy.
Patients might experience one, some, or all of the above or no symptoms at all. Most symptoms will not be bowel cancer.
Bowel screening can pick up cancer at an earlier stage when there is a good chance of successful treatment. A later stage diagnosis may result in a poorer survival rate.
People who are worried about any symptoms that might be caused by bowel cancer, should make an appointment with their GP practice.
The kit is automatically posted to everyone aged 56 to 74 to do the test at home, and the programme is expanding to include those aged 50 to 55 by 2025. The testing kit is a very simple way for to collect just a tiny sample which can detect signs of bowel cancer before you notice anything wrong.
There are clear instructions sent with the kit. You then send the test in a hygienically sealed, prepaid envelope to a laboratory for testing. You will be sent the results of your test by post within two weeks.
To find out more about bowel cancer screening visit www.nhs.uk/bowel.