Challenge 2025

This report explores progress over the past 25 years on mortality, survival and patient experience.  It celebrates the progress that has been made, identifies the areas where more work is required and establishes realistic goals for improvement by 2025. 

The projections are made on the basis of what we know about bowel cancer, as well as the progress that has been made in the past.  The goals should therefore be seen as a minimum objective for improving bowel cancer outcomes.

Achieving these goals will inform Bowel Cancer UK's work over the next few years, helping us focus on what matters most to patients.  We have developed several calls for action which, when implemented, will help even more people affected by bowel cancer and help us further improve the experience of people with bowel cancer. 

Over the past quarter of a century, the way in which bowel cancer is perceived has been transformed.  Public attitudes are changing, awareness is higher, screening offers the opportunity of earlier diagnosis and new treatments have transformed patients' prospects.  Although this is a cause for celebration, we must also remember the half a million people who have lost their lives to bowel cancer in the UK during this period and the many thousands more who have had their quality of life limited by the disease. 

Now is not the time for complacency.  It is the time to raise our ambitions.  This document sets out some challenging but achievable goals for improving every dimension of bowel cancer outcomes, as well as the practical steps that need to be taken to meet them.