THE bowel cancer screening age was lowered from 60 to 50 this week in a huge victory for those who campaigned for it.
Dame Judy James, who sadly lost her battle to bowel cancer in 2022, aged 40, spearheaded the change which will see hundreds of thousands more lives changed.
50 to 52-year-olds are now entitled to a free NHS bowel screening test[/caption]
Everyone aged 50 to 74 in England is now eligible to receive an at-home poo testing kit as part of NHS England’s bowel cancer screening programme.
The Faecal Immunochemistry Test (FIT), which looks for invisible traces of blood in small poo samples, can help detect bowel cancer before it causes noticeable symptoms.
Since 2021, the NHS in England has gradually been expanding test availability down to people in their 50s.
Those aged 50 to 52 will receive their tests by the end of March.
The bowel cancer screening test is one of a few available on the NHS – but of Brits are failing to make use of them, with only 70 per cent of invitations taken up.
Though free checks pick up 18,000 cancers each year, some 7,000 cases might go unnoticed until it’s too late, according to Cancer Research UK.
Official figures show around 30 per cent of people invited for free NHS bowel cancer testing do not take up the invitation.
A further 35 per cent of women don’t attend breast screening appointments and 31 per cent snub cervical smear test invitations.
A study revealed a million cancer cases may have been missed worldwide due to Covid lockdowns.
Scientists said diagnosis rates dropped by 23 per cent and treatments by 28 per cent in the pandemic’s first year.
The number of screening tests also fell, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Meanwhile, NHS figures show the number of cancer diagnoses fell from 327,174 in 2019 to 288,753 in 2020.
Many were missed due to a drop in medical appointments and people being less willing to seek NHS help, research has confirmed.
If you’re one of the Brits who missed their test, it might be because you weren’t aware of the options available.
Alongside the bowel cancer test we outline the other cancer checks you can get for free on the NHS in England, and the ages you become eligible for them.
1. Breast check
Most women will have been told to check their own breasts for signs of lumps and bumps, but after a certain age you’ll be invited for a free NHS breast cancer screening.
You’ll automatically get your first invite for up to three years after you hit 50, as long as you’re registered to a GP surgery.
After that, you’ll be invited every three years until you turn 71.
If you’re a trans man, trans woman or are non-binary, you may be invited automatically, or you may need to talk to your GP surgery or call the local breast screening service to ask for an appointment.
If you have not been invited for breast screening by the time you are 53 and think you should have been, contact your local breast screening service.
But if you’re experiencing symptoms of breast cancer before you reach screening age, don’t wait to be invited – see a GP.
Do this even if you’ve recently had a breast screening.
During your appointment, you’ll have two breast x-rays, also known as mammograms, on each breast.
Each will only take a few minutes.
You should get your results within two weeks after your appointment, via letter. Your GP surgery will also be sent a copy.
If there’s no signs of breast cancer, that’s it until you’re next invited for a check-up.
If something is spotted in the mammograms, you might need to have a few more tests done, such as a breast examination, ultrasound scans and biopsy.
Most people who need further tests won’t end up diagnosed with breast cancer.
But if there are signs of breast cancer, finding it early means treatment is more likely to be successful.
According to Breast Cancer UK, around 56,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women every year.
Men can also get the disease, with 400 cases picked up each year.
2. Bowel check
Bowel cancer screening can actually be done at home, via a a test called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), which looks for blood in a sample of your poo.
It’s available to everyone aged 54 to 74, with the programme gradually expanding to those 50-plus after The Sun’s No Time 2 Lose campaign.
But the screening will soon be available to people aged 50, thanks to the efforts of Sun writer Dame Deborah James.
Currently, those aged 54 to 74 are automatically sent an at-home test kit every two years, so make sure your GP has your correct address.
The at-home test involves providing a small poo sample to be checked for tiny amounts of blood, which could be caused by cancer.
What are the red flag warning signs of bowel cancer?
IT’S the fourth most common cancer in the UK, the second deadliest – yet bowel cancer can be cured, if you catch it early enough.
While screening is one way of ensuring early diagnosis, there are things everyone can do to reduce their risk of the deadly disease.
Being aware of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, spotting any changes and checking with your GP can prove a life-saver.
If you notice any of the signs, don’t be embarrassed and don’t ignore them. Doctors are used to seeing lots of patients with bowel problems.
The five red-flag symptoms of bowel cancer include:
- Bleeding from the back passage, or blood in your poo
- A change in your normal toilet habits – going more frequently for example
- Pain or a lump in your tummy
- Extreme tiredness
- Losing weight
Tumours in the bowel typically bleed, which can cause a shortage of red blood cells, known as anaemia. It can cause tiredness and sometimes breathlessness.
In some cases bowel cancer can block the bowel, this is known as a bowel obstruction.
Other signs include:
- Gripping pains in the abdomen
- Feeling bloated
- Constipation and being unable to pass wind
- Being sick
- Feeling like you need to strain – like doing a number two – but after you’ve been to the loo
While these are all signs to watch out for, experts warn the most serious is noticing blood in your stools.
But, they warn it can prove tricky for doctors to diagnose the disease, because in most cases these symptoms will be a sign of a less serious disease.
If you’re 75 or over, you can ask for a kit every two years by phoning the free bowel cancer screening helpline on 0800 707 60 60.
To do the FIT kit:
- Write the date on the sample bottle.
- Use a clean container to catch your poo. Do not let your poo touch the toilet water. This can be a bit difficult, and you may need to try a few times.
- Open the sample bottle and remove the lid, which has a sample stick attached.
- Gently scrape the end of the sample stick along your poo until all the grooves are covered. Only a small amount is needed.
- Put the sample stick back into the sample bottle and close the lid tightly.
- Wash your hands.
- Check you’ve written the date you did the sample on the sample bottle.
- Put the sample bottle in the envelope included in your test kit and seal it.
- Post the envelope with your sample as soon as you can. Postage is free and you do not need a stamp.
You’ll usually get your results within two weeks but don’t worry if it takes longer.
If your result says you need further tests, it means blood was found in your poo and needs to be investigated. This could have other causes except cancer, such as an anal fissure or bowel polyps.
You’ll usually need to have a colonoscopy, which is where a camera is used to check inside your bowel.
Smear tests are offered to women every three years between the aged of 25 to 49[/caption]
3. Cervical check
Cervical cancer checks, aka smear tests, are offered to women and people with a cervix every three years between the ages of 25 to 49, and every five years from the age of 50 to 64.
The screening will check the health of your cervix to find any abnormal changes before they turn into cancer.
Specifically, a sample of cells from your cervix will be tested for certain high risk strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), which can lead the development of cancer.
If high risk types of HPV are found during screening, the sample of cells is also checked for abnormal cell changes.
HPV is a super common virus passed on through vaginal, oral and anal sex, sharing sex toys and any skin to skin contact in the genital area.
In most cases your body will get rid of HPV without it causing any problems.
But sometimes HPV can linger body for a long time, causing changes in your cervix why may turn into cancer.
During the appointment, a nurse will insert a speculum in your vagina to see your cervix and remove a small sample of cells using a soft brush.
More cancers than ever are being diagnosed early
A record number of cancers are being diagnosed early when they are more curable, NHS figures show.
Nearly six in ten of the 13 most common tumours were caught at stage one or two, the health service said.
It means they have not spread to other parts of the body and they can usually be destroyed.
Almost 121,000 out of the 206,000 cancers diagnosed in England between September 2023 and August 2024 were found early.
The 59 per cent rate was up from 58 per cent a year earlier and 56 per cent the year before that.
It includes bladder, breast, bowel, kidney, lung, throat, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, stomach and uterine cancers, as well as lymphoma and melanoma.
Together they account for three quarters of all cancer cases.
NHS England cancer director Dame Cally Palmer said: “Lives are saved when cancers are caught early. It’s really encouraging to see more people than ever being diagnosed at an earlier stage.
“There is still much more to do to save more lives and we will not let up in our efforts to catch more cancers earlier, where treatment is more likely to be successful.”
About half of people develop cancer at some point in their life and it is the cause of one in four deaths.
