Department of Health written question – answered at on 22 June 2015.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to improve the outcomes for bowel cancer patients through early diagnosis.
Early diagnosis of cancer is a major priority for this Government in helping us to improve cancer survival. We have invested in Be Clear on Cancer campaigns since 2010/11, including two national bowel cancer campaigns in 2012 to raise awareness of blood in poo and encourage people with this and other bowel cancer symptoms to visit their doctor without delay. Public Health England working with the Department, NHS England and other partners will continue to keep these campaigns under review.
Screening for asymptomatic cancer also helps to detect cancer early and in the period from 2010-11 to 2014-15, we invested over £170 million in expanding and improving cancer screening programmes including the NHS Bowel Screening Programme in England. Each year over three million men and women aged 60 to 74 are sent a self-sampling kit, Faecal Occult Blood test (FOBt) to use in the privacy of their own homes. The kit is then returned by post to a regional laboratory (programme hub). People are invited to participate every two years. Improvements to the NHS Bowel Screening Programme included the introduction of Bowel Scope Screening (BSS) into the current programme. BSS is an alternative and complementary bowel screening methodology to FOBt and roll-out to all screening centres in England by the end of 2016 is on track.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is in the process of updating the “Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer” (2005) to ensure that it reflects latest evidence and can continue to support general practitioners to identify patients with the symptoms of suspected cancer, including bowel cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate.
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