At-home bowel cancer checks to be offered to 58-year-olds in England
At-home bowel cancer checks are to be offered to 58-year-olds in England in a bid to increase the number of cases detected.
As part of an extension of the bowel cancer screening programme the health service is sending at-home kits to people over 58.
It is the latest stage of a planned expansion of the programme, whereby the NHS in England has committed to offering the test to all over-50s by 2025.
Some 830,000 additional people aged 58 in England will be eligible for the faecal immunochemical test (FIT), NHS England said.
People will be automatically sent the test in the post, which involves them collecting a sample of their stool and returning it in pre-paid packaging.
The sample is sent for lab analysis and if any abnormalities are detected people are invited in for further checks.
Already, more people are having bowel cancer checks than ever before after the death of campaigner Dame Deborah James, health bosses have said.
Dame Deborah, also known by her social media handle Bowel Babe, had been raising awareness about the disease until her death on June 28 at the age of 40.
Between the months of May and July, 170,500 people referred for checks for suspected lower gastro-intestinal cancers, according to the NHS.
It is up over 30,000 compared to the same period in 2021, and nearly 80,000 higher than the same period two years ago.
Deborah James’ second book, How To Live When You Could Be Dead, will be released posthumously on August 18, and will be about the lessons she learned following her bowel cancer diagnosis.
The mother of Dame Deborah James has told how much the support of the public in her daughter’s last weeks has meant to the family.
Podcaster and campaigner Dame Deborah, known by her social media handle Bowelbabe, died on June 28 at the age of 40, after being diagnosed with bowel cancer aged 35.
In the first interview since her daughter’s death, her mother Heather James, spoke about Dame Deborah’s last few weeks and the outpouring of love and support the family received.
Ms James told BBC Breakfast: “I still find that amazing, that she had the love of the people out there and that meant a lot, it’s meant a lot to the family and it still does.”
Asked if it had been a help, she added: “Yes. I think I could not have coped."
What are the symptoms of bowel cancer?
According to the NHS, the three main symptoms of bowel cancer are:
persistent blood in your poo – that happens for no obvious reason or is associated with a change in bowel habit
a persistent change in your bowel habit – which is usually having to poo more and your poo may also become more runny
persistent lower, bloating or discomfort – that's always caused by eating and may be associated with loss of appetite and weight
The NHS says most people with these symptoms do not have bowel cancer. Other health problems can cause similar symptoms such as a change in diet or haemorrhoids.
However, the NHS recommends seeing your GP if you have had any of these symptoms for three weeks or more.
Deborah James’ second book, How To Live When You Could Be Dead, will be released posthumously on August 18, and will be about the lessons she learned following her bowel cancer diagnosis.
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