Why we offer bowel cancer screening
We offer screening to detect bowel cancer when it is at an early stage in people with no symptoms. This is when treatment is more likely to be effective. Screening can also find polyps. These are abnormal clumps of cells in the bowel. Polyps are not cancers, but may develop into cancers over time. Polyps can be easily removed, which reduces the risk of bowel cancer developing.
Regular bowel cancer screening reduces the risk of dying from bowel cancer.
Who we invite
We offer bowel cancer screening using a home testing kit to everyone in England from the age of 60.
Your GP practice gives us your contact details so please make sure they always have:
- your correct name
- date of birth
- address
Many GPs also like to have your mobile number and email address.
We offer screening every 2 years between the ages of 60 and 74. We are gradually extending this age range, and people aged 56 are now being invited as part of this process.
If you are over 74, you can ask for a kit every 2 years by calling our free helpline on 0800 707 60 60.
You may be asked to take part in a research project (a ‘clinical trial’). Research helps the NHS improve bowel cancer prevention and treatment for people in the future. You can choose whether to take part or not. Your choice will not affect your bowel cancer screening.
Bowel cancer
Bowel cancer is also known as colon, rectal or colorectal cancer. Sometimes the cells that make up the bowel grow too quickly and form a clump of cells known as a bowel polyp (some types of polyp are called an ‘adenoma’). Polyps are not bowel cancers but they can sometimes change into a cancer over a number of years.
Risks of developing bowel cancer
Everyone, whatever your sex, is at risk of developing bowel cancer. Things that can increase your risk include:
- getting older (8 out of 10 people diagnosed with bowel cancer are over 60)
- not being active enough
- being overweight
- a diet high in red and processed meat and low in fibre, vegetables and fruits
- smoking
- drinking too much alcohol
- having type 2 diabetes
- having inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease)
- a family history of bowel cancer
Reducing your risk of bowel cancer
Having bowel cancer screening reduces your risk of dying from bowel cancer by at least 25%.
You can also reduce your risk of bowel cancer by:
- keeping physically active
- keeping a healthy weight
- eating plenty of fibre – for example, choose wholegrain and wholemeal foods
- eating plenty of vegetables and fruit
- eating less red meat and especially less processed meat
- drinking less alcohol
- not smoking
How bowel cancer screening works
We send you an invitation letter with information about bowel cancer screening. The information is to help you decide whether to take part. Then we send you a faecal immunochemical test, or ‘FIT kit’ for short. It detects blood in your poo (blood you would not notice by eye). We look for blood because polyps and bowel cancers sometimes bleed. Finding blood does not diagnose bowel cancer but it means you need further tests (usually a bowel examination).
Most people’s screening result shows they do not need any further tests.
Some people will need further tests. If this is the case for you, we will offer you an appointment to talk about having a colonoscopy. Colonoscopy looks at the inside of your bowel. We use colonoscopy to find the source of the blood.
Using the FIT kit
Video – Using your bowel cancer screening kit
A short animation that shows you how to use the FIT kit.
The animation is available with subtitles and in British Sign Language.
Subtitled versions are provided in English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Farsi, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi and Urdu.
You use the FIT kit in the privacy of your home. It’s a simple way to collect a tiny sample of poo. The kit is a small plastic bottle with a stick attached inside the lid. You use the stick to collect the sample, which you seal into the bottle. There are instructions with each kit.
Once used, you post the kit in its prepaid packaging to a laboratory for processing. Using the kit takes just a few minutes and it’s an easy and effective way to screen for early bowel cancer.
If you’re not sure whether you should use the kit, please call our free helpline on 0800 707 60 60 for advice. For example, if you have had surgery and have an artificial opening that allows poo from the bowel to pass (a stoma) then you might want to call us.
No screening test is completely effective. In bowel cancer screening this is because:
- a polyp or cancer can sometimes be missed if it was not bleeding when the screening test was taken (a ‘false negative’ result)
- bowel cancer may develop in between screening tests
Results
You should receive a results letter within 2 weeks of sending in your sample. There are 2 possible results.
No further tests needed at this time
Most people (about 98 out of 100) have this result. It means that we did not find any blood in your sample, or only a tiny amount which is within the screening range.
This result does not guarantee that you do not have bowel cancer, or that it will never develop in the future. We will offer you bowel cancer screening again in 2 years’ time if you are under the age of 75.
Further tests needed
About 2 in every 100 people have this result. It means that we found an amount of blood in your sample above the screening range.
This does not mean that you have cancer, but it does mean we will offer you an appointment to discuss having a colonoscopy. Several things can cause blood in poo, such as:
- haemorrhoids (piles)
- bowel polyps
- bowel cancer
Having further tests (usually a colonoscopy) means we can look for the cause of the blood.
If you need further tests:
We will offer you an appointment at a local screening centre (usually in a hospital). This is to discuss having a more detailed examination of your bowel (colonoscopy). The colonoscopy is to see if there is a problem that needs treatment.
Only around 2 in 100 people who complete the FIT kit need a colonoscopy.
For more information, you can read the Government leaflet about colonoscopy.
Possible benefits and risks of bowel cancer screening
Benefits
- reduces your risk of dying from bowel cancer by at least 25%
- allows us to remove any polyps found during colonoscopy, which reduces your risk of developing bowel cancer
- can be completed at home in private
Risks
- cause complications, for example, during or after colonoscopy
- miss a cancer if it was not bleeding when you used the FIT kit
Find out how to opt out of screening.
Further information:
For more information about bowel cancer screening, or if you are 75 or over and would like a FIT kit, call the free helpline on 0800 707 60 60.
You can ask for a kit every 2 years.
You can also:
- talk to your GP
- read the NHS.UK information on bowel cancer screening
- visit GOV.UK and search for ‘bowel cancer screening’
- read information for transgender and non-binary people about NHS population screening programmes
If you have hearing or speech difficulties you can use the Relay UK service to contact us. Dial 18001 then 0800 707 60 60 from your textphone or the Relay UK app.
Content provided by NHS.uk
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Published on Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:22:26 GMT
Modified on Mon, 18 Jul 2022 12:23:50 GMT