MLAs back our call to fund bowel cancer screening from age 50 in Northern Ireland

Over a third of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) have joined our call to urgently fund the extension of bowel cancer screening to people aged 50-74 in Northern Ireland.

A cross-party group of 36 MLAs has signed our letter to Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to secure the funding needed to lower the screening age for bower screening from 60 to 50, and, in time, increase the sensitivity of the screening test to also match the rest of the UK.

The letter has attracted support from representatives across the Assembly. These include the Chair of the Committee for Health Philip McGuigan, the Chair of the All-Party Group on Cancer Stewart Dickson, the Social Democratic and Labour Party’s Health Spokesperson Colin McGrath, and Alliance’s Health Spokesperson Danny Donnelly.

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in Northern Ireland, with over 1,300 people diagnosed with the disease every year. It's more common in people over the age of 50.

Bowel cancer screening uses a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), which looks for tiny amounts of blood in a stool sample that may indicate bowel cancer.

Screening can help detect bowel cancer at an earlier stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful. It can also help find polyps (non-cancerous growths) that can develop into cancer, allowing them to be removed before cancer develops.

As people in Northern Ireland are offered bowel cancer screening from the age of 60, they miss out on up to five screening opportunities compared to those living in the rest of the UK, where screening begins at the age of 50.

Northern Ireland also uses a less sensitive screening test threshold (120µg haemoglobin per gram of faeces) than Scotland and Wales, which already use a more sensitive threshold of 80µg/g. England is working towards a full rollout of this lower threshold by 2028. 

The lower sensitivity of the test in Northern Ireland means that people are less likely to be diagnosed with bowel cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage. This is contributing to potentially avoidable late diagnoses, poorer survival rates and higher long-term treatment costs.

Northern Ireland’s cancer strategy identifies early diagnosis as a key priority for improving cancer outcomes. Extending bowel cancer screening to people aged 50–74 would be an important step towards helping more bowel cancers be detected earlier.

We previously organised an event at Stormont this April, hosted by Eóin Tennyson MLA and attended by over 20 MLAs from across the Assembly, focusing on the urgent need to fund lowering the bowel cancer screening age.

Our call follows our new campaign highlighting stark inequalities in access to bowel cancer screening, an important tool for early diagnosis.

Genevieve Edwards, Chief Executive of Bowel Cancer UK, said: "People in Northern Ireland are currently missing out on bowel cancer screening opportunities that are already available everywhere else in the UK.

"We're delighted that 36 MLAs from across the political spectrum have backed our call for the Executive to fund the extension of bowel cancer screening to people aged 50–74, in line with the UK National Screening Committee recommendations.

"Earlier detection gives people the best chance of successful treatment, and we urge the Minister to set out a clear, funded, time-bound plan for delivering these long-overdue improvements to bowel cancer screening."

• Taking part in bowel cancer screening is one of the best ways to spot the disease early, when it's more likely to be treatable and curable. Learn more about screening here.
• You can campaign with us and sign up as a campaign supporter to help us improve early diagnosis and access to best treatment and care for all those affected. Sign up and support our campaigns.