Home test kits to screen for bowel cancer
|
|
Everyone aged 60 to 69 will be sent a kit to test for bowel cancer as part of a major new screening programme.
Bowel cancer kills 16,000 people every year. It is the second largest cause of cancer deaths in the UK with around 30,000 new cases each year.
From April 2006 around two million people will be sent home testing kits to enable them to do a test in the privacy of their own homes. The person then sends the kit back to a laboratory where it will be analysed.
It is the first time such a programme will operate in England and one of the first of its kind in Europe.
The NHS has already made significant progress in reducing deaths from bowel cancer, with mortality rates falling by 17 per cent over the last ten years.
Health Minister Rosie Winterton said:
“Although bowel cancer affects more than one in 20 people in their lifetime, of those who get the disease 90 per cent survive if it is caught early.
“Because of the nature of the disease, people can feel uncomfortable talking about it, let alone coping with the symptoms. That is why the privacy and dignity that the home testing kits afford will help us better tackle the disease.”
The screening programme will be phased in gradually over a three-year period.
Print Version
Tell-a-Friend comments powered by Disqus
