“While it’s encouraging to see an increase in uptake levels of bowel cancer screening in Wales, these latest figures are still lower than elsewhere in the UK.”
“Screening is vitally important and has been proven to save lives. There are still 16,000 people in the UK dying from bowel cancer, yet it is both treatable and curable if diagnosed early. For people of screening age, taking part in bowel cancer screening is the best way to get diagnosed early.”
“We urge Public Health Wales to follow Scotland’s lead and introduce the FIT (faecal immunochemical test) home screening test, which means participants return just one bowel motion sample instead of the three samples required for the current test.”
“We would also like the Public Health Wales screening service to do more to improve uptake, by encouraging people to complete their bowel screening kit if they have been sent one or asking them to call the NHS screening helpline for another one (0800 294 3370) if they lost or discarded theirs. Bowel cancer screening really does save lives.”
