N Ireland Bowel Cancer Awareness Campaign

Friday, February 03, 2012

Bowel cancer screening could save approximately 60 lives a year in Northern Ireland, the Public Health Agency (PHA) said today as it encourages participation in the Northern Ireland Bowel Cancer Screening Programme with a new public awareness campaign.

Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in Northern Ireland and claims the lives of 400 local people each year*, but when detected at a very early stage there is a 90% successful treatment rate.

All men and women aged 60-69 year are currently invited for screening every two years and from April 2012 this will be extended to everyone aged 60-71 years.

The screening kit is used to detect traces of blood in the bowel motion, which if found can lead to further tests. Most people who are tested will have no blood in their bowel motions and will be invited to repeat the screening test two years later. Only 10 people in every 500 who complete the test kit will have traces of blood in their bowel motion and only one of these will have bowel cancer.

 

Anyone who has received the test kit in N Ireland and has questions about how to use it please call the Freephone Helpline number 0800 015 2514.